“CAF should be blamedRenowned Senegalese sports journalist, Sankulleh Janko has made public his thoughts on officiating at the just ended AFCON, claiming that CAF should be fully blamed for embarrassing refereeing during the tournament.
In an interview with FOCUS SPORTS, Sankulleh Janko revealed that the problem of officiating stemmed from the dismissal of the then CAF head of referees, Desire Noumandiez Doue who, according to Janko, frequently organized seminars and workshops to update African officials on new rules and implements in the game. These measures which were put in place by Doue led to a very successful AFCON campaign in La Cote D’ Ivoire. Sankulleh Janko believes that all these as well as other important factors were missing from the agenda of the current refereeing director, Oliver Safari Kabene, leading to an abysmal officiating performance in Morocco.
He also made his stance in support of Jean Jacques Ndala, the referee who officiated the final game, saying that he(Ndala) was overwhelmed by the occasion as well as the pressure from the home fans. “Not Ndala, not anyone else. I will blame CAF if you ask me”, Janko stated.
According to the West African Democratic Radio sports journalist, the best thing Ndala should have done was to allow play to go on whilst the infringement was reviewed by the video assistant referee, as is done in the elite football leagues. Ndala’s failure to do this saw things spiral really fast.
Jean Jacques Ndala’s somewhat questionable officiating in Morocco’s opening game against Comoros had put him on a radar and hence was subjected to intense scrutiny with every decision he made, especially in the final. Sankulleh Janko was also asked about his take on Pape Thiaw’s decision to take his players off the pitch to which he answered,” as a Senegalese fan, I was in support of Thiaw’s decision but as a football lover, I believe that he shouldn’t have done that because there are rules to how this game is governed.
Janko concluded by stating emphatically that Sadio Mane is the greatest Senegalese player of all time, in spite of the many great players Senegal has produced, with the whole Senegal nation rallying for a statue to be erected in honor of their captain.
Senegal’s win over Morocco saw them clinch their second title in five years, etching their name in African football folklore as one of the greatest footballing nations on the continent and without doubt, one of the best on the planet.