{"id":3045,"date":"2022-01-16T15:08:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T15:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2022-01-16T15:24:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T15:24:01","slug":"the-missing-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/01\/16\/the-missing-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"The Missing Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Unsavory Scenes after the final whistle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar at Yaound\u00e9\u2019s Ahmadou Ahidjo \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 14th<\/sup> 2022)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabon\u2019s late equaliser incensed the Black Stars who had led for almost 75 minutes. The Panthers ignored Fair Play etiquette by refusing to return the ball to Ghana after Baba Rahman put the ball out so Daniel-Kofi Kyere could be treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Stars were convinced that Kyere had been fouled, but Algerian referee, Lahlou Benbraham, decided no foul had been committed. At that point, VAR could not have been used \u2013 it doesn\u2019t review in such situations as at that stage it was not a match-changing situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules and Regulations \u2013 VAR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For clarity, this is how VAR works: \u2018The VAR will not review incidents<\/strong> outside of the four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity. It will not review, for example, fouls or handballs in the middle of the pitch when there is no goal or penalty decision.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIFA guidance on VAR says: \u201cThe role of the VAR is to assist the referee to determine whether there was an infringement that means a goal should not be awarded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, could VAR intervene in this case? VAR could not intervene when Kyere went to ground as it was not a match-changing situation then. It could not intervene when the Panthers refused to return the ball to Ghana, as Fair Play is not compulsory \u2013 it was Gabon\u2019s decision on whether to return the ball or not. They were entitled to keep possession and did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghanaians were not impressed. \u201cWell, it was a foul and we decided to play it out because he [Kyere] was down, so as they always say, the referees has meetings with us, the players, to play like fair football,\u201d Joseph Paintsil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joseph Paintsil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfterwards, we thought, yeah, they need to give us the ball so we can play a fair game and this decision will never happen in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe, we were also down by not being active. As I said, yeah, we need to have a fair play and this was not really acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match-Changing Situation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt that the alleged foul on Daniel-Kofi Kyere was not VAR eligible when it happened. The decision was solely Benbraham\u2019s to make. He decided it was not a foul \u2013 his right. Fair Play could not get a goal cancelled. Refusing to return the ball after it was put out is not eligible for VAR. Interestingly, Baba Rahman did not do what most do when putting it out for a player to get treatment \u2013 belt it far up the field. He was na\u00efve in that respect \u2013 an action that would have neutralised the refusal to return the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But once Gu\u00e9lor Kanga\u2019s assist from the right fed Jim Allevinah, everything changed. Allevinah\u2019s left-footed shot across goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott levelled the match, sparked exuberant celebrations and made the previous events eligible for VAR. It was now a match-changing situation \u2013 a goal \u2013 and could be reviewed, but only at that point. Possession had been turned over, allegedly as a result of a foul, and that directly led to the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paintsil thought so. \u201cNo, no, no,\u201d he said regarding the failure to consult VAR. \u201cIt\u2019s not even getting used because if he checked [VAR], he could have even done, maybe a different decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, we talked to him, but he all he told was, \u2018yeah, it\u2019s a goal,\u2019 so no matter what, nothing is going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair Play<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabon\u2019s coach, Patrice Neveu, was not about to take lectures on fair play, citing time-wasting by Ghana. The Black Stars took the lead after 14 minutes through a fierce strike from outside the area by Black Stars\u2019 captain, Andr\u00e9 Ayew after being supplied by Thomas Partey. Ayew led Ghana\u2019s protests after the equaliser. He said that Ghana was incensed that the Panthers refused to return the ball, but there is no obligation to do so. There was nothing that Benbraham could do about that. It led to shameful scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar at Yaound\u00e9\u2019s Ahmadou Ahidjo \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 14th 2022) Chaos Gabon\u2019s late equaliser incensed the Black Stars who had led for almost [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[88,95,90,91,94,87,82,93,89,92,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}