Johannesburg — South African football experienced whistle-blower Victor Gomes will be in charge of the Africa Cup of Nations final (Afcon) between Senegal and Egypt at the Yaounde-Stade Olembe on Sunday, CAF confirmed on Friday.
The revered referee will lead a trio of Southern Africa based officials, with his two assistants set to be his country-man Zakhele Siwela and Lesotho’s Souru Phatsoane, while the fourth official will be DR Congo’s Jean-Jacques Ngambo Ndala.
This will be the second much-anticipated match in the delayed continental showpiece that the three COSAFA officials will be in charge of, having previously overseen the clash between Algeria and Ivory Coast in the group stage.
Before being assigned to officiate the final, Gomes was already the talk of town on Thursday, with reports saying that the Egyptians wanted him to officiate their semi-final tie against Cameroon, instead of Gambia’s Bakary Gassama.
But the Pharaohs’ request fell on deaf ears as Gassama took charge of the match. And to the Egyptian’s spite, the Gambian gave coach Carlos Queiroz, who had persistently berated him, his marching orders late into the second stanza.
"Again, unfortunately, they send this type of referee to a game of this level. A referee with no experience, no level, wanting to put on a show. It started in the dressing room," Queiroz told SkySports after the Egyptian 3-1 win on penalty shoot-outs
"We hadn't started the game yet and he came to the locker room to intimidate our staff. But even against this, against all the decisions, which were always against Egypt, we were the best team in the second half and on penalties shootouts."
"How can this referee, after what he has done in the past, be in the African Cup of Nations? Who understands this? Nobody! Caf doesn't respect Egypt, from the timings (of matches) to the quality of the pitches. We had the worst pitches."
IOL Sport