Black Queens head coach Bashir Hayford blames eSwatini referee Letticia Antonella Vian for his side’s 2-1 defeat to Mali in the ongoing 2018 Africa Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday.
Bassira Toure opened the scoring of the Malians from the penalty spot on 25 minutes after she was fouled by goalkeeper Patricia Mantey in Ghana’s penalty area.
Ghana pulled level via skipper Elizabeth Addo in the 70th minute before Toure again pounced on the ball to restore the lead after the Ghanaian shot-stopper failed to parry the ball to safety.
Coach Bashir Hayford, whose side must beat Cameroon to qualify to the semi-final of the competition has slammed the refereeing decisions which he believes was set out to frustrate his players.
“It wasn’t an easy match at all but I will say that about 80 per cent was played by the referee,” he stated.
“I don’t normally talk about referees but referees do frustrate players. And I think the referee succeeded in frustrating our players."
“All the same, I don’t want to take anything away from the Malians but I think on the field of play, we played about 65 to 70% and the referee added whatever she wanted to add."
“I don’t want to complain too much but that is my side of the story,” Hayford added.
Referee Viana was booed by disgruntled home fans who felt she was unfair and wanted to be the centre of attention as majority of her calls went against the Black Queens.
Ghana will meet one of the tournaments favourites Cameroon who have secured 100% record in their two games. They come up against each other at 16:00 GMT in Accra on Friday, November 23.