ZESCO United Football Club Team Ya Ziko
FAZ/MTN Super league leaders, ZESCO United today had their hopes of cantering away with the league title before the final day of the season spoiled by FAZ referee, Evans Mulenga.
ZESCO United’s 3-0 defeat to Prison Leopards yet again exposed the deficiencies in the men charged by the Football Association of Zambia to manage football matches in the country.
In an age were Zambian football is beamed beyond the region through pay television station SuperSport, one would think referees would be concerned with the cost of poorly managing games in a league that has for the last two decades been rated among the top leagues in Africa.
However, this cancer doesn’t seem to be waning despite numerous referees training programs being organized by FAZ. This should worry the local football governing body president, Andrew Kamanga.
In the 24’ minute of the game, Mulenga decided to award Prison Leopards a dubious penalty that clearly hit the back of a falling ZESCO United defender, Clement Mwape.
Prison Leopard striker David Obashi dispatched his penalty with ease beating Kenyan International goalkeeper, Ian Otieno.
Few minutes later a pumped Mulenga handed Kelvin Kampamba a second yellow card for having questioned the referee’s decision.
Kapamba’s only sin was to question the referees decision to award Leopards a free kick after he was clearly pulled by a Prison Leopards player.
The decision to send off Kampamba incensed the ZESCO United technical bench and players.
Mulenga continued to make questionable decisions in the first half which frustrated ZESCO United players further.
In the second half, Prison Leopards took advantage of their numbers and scored two more goals through Augustine Henneh and Obashi with the latter completing his brace.
ZESCO United head coach Numba Mumamba could not hide his disgust with the level of officiating which has continued to dominate the Zambian game.
“The officiating of today’s game has contributed to our defeat. The referee didn’t perform to the expectation of everyone. The penalty he gave wasn’t a penalty because the ball hit the player on his back. That also contributed because it gave our opponents power to stay in the game.
Right now, we just need to encourage our players because we have very important games ahead of us,” Mumamba said.
The ZESCO United gaffer has appealed to the FAZ Referees Department to do an introspection into the standard of refereeing in the country.
“I think the FAZ Referees manager and his people need to take a great look at how their officials are managing the games. Referees this season have been pathetic. This is something we can’t lie about. They need to do something so that this game of football is developed.”
Mumamba further bemoaned the number of unexpected injuries that crippled his side in the early stages of the game.
“Today we didn’t play as expected especially that the players that started developed knocks during the game. We had to make unplanned substitutions which didn’t work for us. We need to get back to work so that we are ready for Sunday’s game against Kitwe United. We have a big squad to replace those who are injured.”
Author: Desmond Katongo
