Davids, Ncikazi may well have last laugh
THE football gods showed they favoured Orlando Pirates after Gambian referee Bakary Gassama overturned his decision to award Libyan club Al Ahli Tripoli a penalty in Sunday’s Caf Confederation Cup semi-final second-leg match at Orlando Stadium.
The 5 000 strong crowd, mostly Pirates supporters, who had braved Sunday evening’s foul weather, were stunned into silence when Gassama pointed to the “spot” after seeing a handball infringement in the Buccaneers penalty area by central defender Happy Jele.
When consulting the pitch-side VAR monitor, the video footage showed the ball ricocheted sharply off Jele’s boot and onto his hand. It was not a hand-to-ball sequence, and Gassama ruled “no penalty” much to the disgust of the protesting Libyan visitors.
Just two days earlier, Gassama was in the news after he awarded a controversial penalty in the recent Cameroon versus Algeria clash. Pierluigi Collina, chairperson of the Fifa referees committee, subsequently said: “There was no mistake involving referee Bakary Gassama. He is one of the best referees in the world.”
The let-off raised a huge cheer in Orlando Stadium from the Happy People. During the halftime break, they celebrated their good fortune and were in full cry as one of South Africa’s hottest rappers, Big Zulu, belted out his famous Imali Eningi.
Around the hour mark, fans sensing a threat from the visiting Libyans, started making gestures to Pirates’ interim co-coaches Fadlu Davids and Mandla Ncikazi to make a change and bring on substitute Vincent Pule. Strangely, Pule has had limited playing time of late after kicking his heels on the sidelines following an injury a few months ago.
Davids and Ncikazi responded later, and the fans raised the roof as Pule ran out.
Ten minutes later, an Al Ahli Tripoli substitute unleashed a snorter of a shot, which took a wicked deflection before it bulged the Pirates nets. By this time, with about 11 minutes left, the 1-0 scoreline could have been 3-0 or 4-0, had it not been for Ghanaian goalkeeper Richard Ofori.
He made some six or seven classic saves to ensure that Pirates conceded the lone goal without suffering disaster and emerge 2-1 victors on aggregate after a first-leg 2-0 win in Libya.
It marks the fourth time Pirates have reached a final in Caf competitions. In 1995 Pirates won the Champions League and were runners-up in 2013 (Champions League) and 2015 (Confederation Cup). No other SA team has played in four Caf club finals.
This prompted rousing scenes of delight all around the stadium after the final whistle, and there was not a hint that the Happy People were indeed not happy. However, for some hours after the match, hordes of Pirates fans flooded social media with calls for the sacking of Davids and Ncikazi.
Although the defeat did not prevent Pirates from reaching the final, the poor performance by the team on the night triggered the call for the sacking of the coaches. If the fans had their way Davids and Ncikazi will not be on the plane to Nigeria for Friday’s final against RS Berkane of Morocco.
In a nutshell, the fans said the coaches were not good enough to coach a team like Pirates. Many felt the coaches were out of their depth.
With the way the gods have been smiling on Pirates in this Confederation Cup campaign, the two under-fire coaches may well have the last laugh by the time the final runs its course.