JOHANNESBURG: Burkina Faso star Jonathan Pitroipa was cleared yesterday to play in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Nigeria after a referee who sent him off admitted the decision was incorrect.
“The red card is withdrawn,” CAF secretary general Hicham El Amrani told journalists after the disciplinary commission’s decision.
Tunisian Slim Jdidi red carded Pitroipa during the semi-final win over Ghana for wrongly believing he had ‘dived’ and the midfielder would have missed the final this Sunday if the match official had not accepted he made a mistake.
The match official erred in booking the player a second time with three minutes of extra time left last Wednesday and then sending him off.
“Everyone realized that this referee did not officiate well,” CAF president Issa Hayatou told a media breakfast at a plush Johannesburg suburb hotel.
“They have told me the referee has sent a letter saying he got it wrong.
“The referee admitted his error in his report given to the (CAF) secretary general (Hicham El Amrani) — he recognized that he had got it wrong.” Jdidi’s admission that he made a mistake paved the way for the red card to be rescinded and for Pitroipa to take his place in the Burkina Faso side to face Nigeria at Soccer City stadium in Soweto.
Pitroipa struck the lone goal in the 1-0 extra-time quarterfinal win over Togo and also scored in the earlier 4-0 rout of Ethiopia — the first victory by the Burkinabe at the African football showcase in 19 matches.
The wide, attacking midfielder from French club Rennes has helped lighten the blow of the Burkinabe losing their best striker, Alain Traore, to injury early in the final group game against Zambia.
Jdidi has been suspended for his poor performance in the semifinal, which Burkina Faso won 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate at Mbombela Stadium in north-eastern city Nelspruit.
Controversial refereeing performances at the African Nations Cup should not detract from an overall improvement in the standard of officiating, Issa Hayatou, the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said yesterday.
Coaches and players have been angry about bizarre refereeing performances at several key matches at the tournament in South Africa but Hayatou believes that overall the standard has been good.
“Overall we are satisfied but we experienced some mistakes with the referees especially at the semifinal between Ghana and Burkina Faso, and there were other errors too...also at the Tunisia v Togo match,” he told a media round-table meeting yesterday.
Jdedi’s most contentious decision came three minutes from the end of extra time when he showed Burkinabe winger Jonathan Pitroipa a second yellow card and sent him off for diving in the penalty area which means, pending appeal, that Pitroipa is ruled out of Sunday’s final against Nigeria.
Television replays clearly showed that Pitroipa was fouled in the incident and that Jdedi had a clear view of the foul.
Other refereeing foibles included Ghana’s goalkeeper receiving a yellow card instead of red for a handball outside his area in what was a blatant professional foul against Mali.
South African referee Daniel Bennett booked the wrong player, awarded two soft penalties and denied another obvious spot kick when Togo met Tunisia in Nelspruit.
Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha awarded a highly controversial penalty to Zambia in the last minute of their group match against Nigeria and subsequently was not given another game to officiate in the tournament.
After the match the Nigerian FA sent a strongly-worded protest to CAF, and Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama described the call as “one of the worst decisions in the history of football.”
