Malawi Coach Mario Marinica Criticises Referees Harshly Following the Flames' Cosafa Cup Elimination

• Controversy has already engulfed the 2022 COSAFA Cup tournament currently taking place in KwaZulu-Natal
• Malawi's coach Mario Marinica has taken aim at the state of officiating during the competition
• The Flames were eliminated from reaching the quarterfinals with one match for them still to play

The quality of refereeing at the 2022 COSAFA Cup has been called into question.

Malawi coach Mario Marinica has taken aim at the referees who took charge of The Flame's two matches thus far in the competition. They were defeated 2-1 in their first game against Lesotho, before a 1-1 draw against Eswatini last Friday saw them being eliminated from quarterfinal contention with one more match to play (Mauritius, who they defeated 2-0 yesterday).

According to TimesLIVE, Marinica said:

“We are concerned with the refereeing because the same thing happened in the previous match. The referees seem to be having their own agenda and the referee [Moonje] was very weak.

Meet the top 4 African stars who played for Eintracht Frankfurt

Football

“There was no penalty whatsoever — the player dived and that’s the reason I have to apologise to you guys [the media] for not coming early [to the post-match press conference]. I don’t want to say the same of the cheaters — cheating doesn’t pay. You can pray to God to give you success, but success can’t be achieved by cheating.”

Malawi24 also reported how Marinica said poor refereeing across the continent is why Africa had little representation at FIFA events across the world.

Banyana Banyana score late to break Botswana hearts and secure victory in Women’s Africa Cup of Nations game

Banyana Banyana snatched a late victory over neighbours Botswana in the final group game in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

As reported by Sports Brief, the two Southern African were deadlocked at 0-0 in Rabat before Nthabiseng Ronisha Majiya scored in the 80th minute. Banyana, who had already qualified for the quarter-final stages, rung the changes for the game and it showed.

Banyana would hang on to claim victory and secure the top spot, where they will now meet Tunisia in the quarter-final of the tournament.