Hlungwani Gives Verdict On Pirates Incidents

Former FIFA Referee Victor Hlungwani believes that Orlando Pirates were lucky to escape punishment for Selaelo Rasebotja’s ruthless ankle tackle on Deolin Mekoa, though he admitted the two other calls were spot on by the officials.

The Buccaneers were stunned 3-2 by Magesi FC in the opening round of the Carling Knockout Cup at Orlando Stadium this past weekend and should’ve had three decisions correctly called against them instead of just two according to Hlungwani.

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“The Principal” dissected the incidents from the drama-filled clash eSgodini, saying that Rasebotja should’ve been sent off for an early shower after his tackle on Mekoa in the first half.

“There was serious foul play. Someone should’ve walked there,” Hlungani said on SABC Sport’s Soccerzone.

The second incident was when Elvis Chipezeze dived at the feet of Patrick Maswanganyi in the 18-yard area. Pirates players remonstrated that they should’ve been awarded a spot kick, but Hlungwani shrugged off that suggestion, saying the referee made a good decision by giving Chipezeze the benefit of the doubt as the ball had changed direction.

“Chipezeze there made a challenge. The ball changed direction,” the Principal added.

“We are not sure who touched the ball between the attacker and Chipezeze, but the ball changed directions which give benefits to the goalkeeper there.

“So therefore, correct decision by the referee to give a corner kick because we’re not 100% sure.”

In conclusion, Hlungwani was also full of praise for assistant referee Zakhele Siwela for correctly flagging off Mohau Nkota’s last-minute equalizer.

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“We applaud Zakhele Siwela from Alex for taking a great decision,” Hlungwani further said.

“Here, there’s an offside by Nkota there. If you check there you can see that Zakhele Siwela, highly experienced referee, in our league coming from the World Cup.

“He sees that the player is one metre offside. I don’t know why people [Pirates players] go to him because that offside was very big, so therefore correct decision by the referee.”

The Ghost resume Betway Premiership action against SuperSport United this evening.