Ghanaian midfielder John Arwuah believes the penalty awarded to Ghana against South Africa in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers shouldn’t have stood as he believes it was too soft.
The Bafana Bafana lost their ticket to the to the playoffs stage in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers after losing 1-0 to the Black Stars at the Cape Coast stadium weeks ago.
Captain Andre Ayew scored from the spot to secure all important points for the four-time African champions to secure playoffs spot at the expense of South Africa.
After the game, the South African Football Association (SAFA) lodged a complaint with FIFA, protesting against the penalty awarded to Ghana by Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye and claimed the match was fixed in favor of Ghana.
The world football governing body is yet to rule on the case.
However, the longest-serving Ghanaian footballer in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has thrown his support behind Bafana Bafana in the recent penalty controversy.
"A lot of penalties like that have been given before but they are not spoken about like this one, which was a decider," John Arwuah tells KickOff.com.
"This thing has been happening for years on this continent. Our referees, right from the local leagues, are the ones who are influencing the results of games.
"The results of games are not based on the performance of clubs. It is always based on the referee, and we always say it is a human mistake, yet these guys are trained and paid to do a job.
"This thing has been going on for years and it is only when it happens to you that you feel the pain.
"The penalty was soft but according to the referee the player was touched yet football is a contact sport, and you need to be touched or pushed. Such decisions have happened so many times before in favour of other countries or other clubs. With some of our referees when you play away here in Africa you will see broad daylight robbery, and nothing is said about it, and we entertain it because we say Africa is corrupt. That time we forget that we are putting our football in disgrace," he says.
"To be honest that penalty shouldn't have stood because this is a contact sport, and this is why they now have VAR in Europe. In Africa, we are always the last to take a step towards making our football better. It is unfortunate that when this happens in this continent we just let it be. The interpretation of these rules needs to be fixed in Africa but luckily, we now have someone who is fair like Patrice Motsepe running football on the continent so hopefully, he can change all of this.
"The problem with us in Africa is that we have accepted a lot of wrongs but then I cannot decide for the referees even though we could all see that it was a soft penalty which has been given against Bafana. I just wish it wasn’t a penalty but then it was given," adds Arwuah.
In over 15 years in South Africa, Arwuah has featured for sides such as AmaZulu, Golden Arrows, SuperSport United, Bloemfontein Celtic, and Maritzburg United.