{"id":3216,"date":"2022-02-13T17:44:25","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T17:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3216"},"modified":"2022-02-13T17:47:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T17:47:10","slug":"bertrand-traore-denounces-soft-penalties-as-cameroon-win-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/02\/13\/bertrand-traore-denounces-soft-penalties-as-cameroon-win-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Bertrand Traor\u00e9 Denounces \u2018Soft\u2019 Penalties as Cameroon Win Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar at Yaounde\u2019s Olemb\u00e9 Stadium \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 9th<\/sup> 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different Standards?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man of the match performance by Cameroon\u2019s captain Vincent Aboubaker rescued all the points from a determined Burkina Faso team, already smarting from a perceived Covid-19 injustice. The Stallions\u2019 skipper, Bertrand Traor\u00e9, currently playing for Aston Villa, was livid over COVID testing before the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traor\u00e9 insisted that the testing was invalid \u2013 the wrong test. The Burkinabe took the matter to CAF but received no joy. COVID testing is already a hot issue, and likely to become more and more contentious. Traor\u00e9 at least was in no mood to accept what he saw as an injustice. It remains to be seen how this saga will play out during the 33rd<\/sup> AFCON \u2013 the first in the COVID-19 era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penalties<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the run of play, Burkina Faso took the lead \u2013 some blamed returning keeper Andr\u00e9 Onana for the Stallions\u2019 goal but that seemed harsh on the Ajax keeper. The Indomitable Lions had had the better of the play before Gustavo Sangar\u00e9\u2019s goal, but the threat was limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Issoufou Dayo\u2019s goal-bound header was cleared on the line by Nouhou Tolo but Traor\u00e9\u2019s pass provided the assist for Sangar\u00e9 to blast in at the far post almost midway through the first half. It briefly silenced the crowd, who had whistled their disapproval of FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trailing 1-0 with half time approaching, Traor\u00e9 challenged Zambo Anguissa after a corner. Traor\u00e9 believed he had done nothing wrong. However, this challenge was to make history. Algerian referee, Mustapha Ghorbal, initially waved play on but was advised to consult VAR. Ghorbal changed his mind after seeing the replay. This was the first penalty given after using VAR in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another penalty was awarded for a foul on Tolo by Issoufou in added time at the end of the first half. It gave Aboubaker another opportunity from the spot. Again, he made no mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aboubakar Shines<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had a brace \u2013 it could already have been a hat-trick as after beating the keeper outside his area, the angle proved too tight for Cameroon\u2019s skipper to convert. He also had a second half goal disallowed for offside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stallions\u2019 assistant coach, Firmin Sanon, conceded that the penalties were fair but questioned other decisions. Sanon thought that the Stallions were treated harsher than the Indomitable Lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethiopia face Cape Verde in the later kick-off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar at Yaounde\u2019s Olemb\u00e9 Stadium \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 9th 2022) Different Standards? A man of the match performance by Cameroon\u2019s captain Vincent Aboubaker [\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":[88,183,184,134,185,188,186,85,168],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216"}],"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=3216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3217,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions\/3217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}