NO CONTROVERSY
…as Janny Sikazwe impresses in Qatar
AFTER putting Zambia on the global map with his controversial officiating at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, top Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe flew the country’s flag high with an impressive performance at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Sikazwe, who twice blew too early for full-time in Mali’s 1-0 win over Tunisia at the AFCON began his officiating duties at his second consecutive World Cup finals as the centre referee in Belgium’s 1-0 win over Canada in a Group F fixture.
Sikazwe commanded the game with great composure as Michy Batshauyi scored the winner for Belgium after Alphonso Davies had missed an early penalty.
The Kapiri Mposhibased Zambian referee flashed five yellow cards from the 25 fouls committed in the entire game and awarded Canada a glorious chance to take the lead on 10 minutes after a Taylor Buchanan strike hit the arm of Yannick Carrasco in the box.
Sikazwe booked Carrasco for a handball inside the box before awarding Canada the spot kick which was saved by Courtois who guessed right to stop the Bayern Munich defender from scoring the opener for Canada.
Sikazwe’s impressive officiating cheered Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) referees manager Aziph Banda who hailed the Zambian referee for a great performance.
“That was a great performance from Janny. We all saw how he officiated and it makes everyone proud. It is so motivating and if someone has some interests in refereeing and seeing our very own performing like that, it is a big motivation,” Banda said.
He encouraged other local referees to be hard working and disciplined to reach Sikazwe’s heights as one of the best FIFA referees.
If you look at the trajectory of Janny’s development, it is all about hard work and discipline and whoever wants to reach that height, they really need to train hard, work hard and maintain discipline in and outside the field of play because referees are just like musicians, they attract a lot of attention as you are performing so one needs to keep away from some of the vices, they need to be focused and know what they need to achieve in life,” Banda said.