Equatorial Guinea coach blames referee for defeat to Eagles

From Taofeek Babalola, Agadir, Morocco

Equatorial Guinea head coach Rodolfo Bodipo has blamed the center referee for his team’s 3-1 loss to Super Eagles of Nigeria in Tuesday’s final group C match at the Agadir Stadium, Morocco.

Bodipo frown at the referee's decision for allowing Anthony Okpotu’s equalising goal when they were one man down and the referee delayed the player getting back on the pitch. He also criticized the referee for the soft penalty awarded to Nigeria against his team. Okpotu was doubled –teamed in the box by Guinean defenders which resulted to the third goals scored by Rabiu Ali from the penalty spot.  

“We came here with a young team and we were in a tough group, and today we played a very strong team like Nigeria, we didn’t win but we are happy that we participated in this tournament. We are not happy with the referee, the first goal we conceded,we were one man down and the referee delayed the player getting back on the pitch and allowed Nigeria to come back. Also the penalty was not a clean penalty but things like these happened to a small team like ours," Bodipo said.

"We will take any positive from this tournament and take it home. The next thing for us is to have a league in our country because there is no football league in Equatorial Guinea at the moment."