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Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has criticised the match officials after Kaizer Chiefs were awarded what he believes was an offside goal in their 2-0 defeat to Amakhosi on Sunday.
In the 7th minute, Samir Nurkovic appeared to be in an offside position from Leonardo Castro's flick when he bundled the ball into the back of the net and opened the scoring for Amakhosi.
And according to Mosimane, it is just another case of Chiefs being unfairly benefited by referees. The Masandawana mentor has been particularly vocal on the matter in recent weeks and the issue reared its head again against the Glamour Boys.
Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp spoke first in the post-match press conference and extended an olive branch to Mosimane after their recent frosty altercations by saying the Brazilians tactician is one of the most 'decorated' coaches in South African footballing history.
"Is he sweetening me up? He's one of the luckiest coaches, the goal that they scored is offside!," the Sundowns coach said on SuperSport TV.
"The last person to touch it is [Leonardo] Castro, it [affects the game], we play under stress because they benefited from the linesman's mistake.
"Do we want to justify how many times Kaizer Chiefs wins with the referees' mistakes? I'll give the benefit of the doubt if we're playing AmaZulu, Golden Arrows or anybody. Against Kaizer Chiefs, I give no space. There's no benefit of the doubt to Kaizer Chiefs because they have benefited a lot.
"If the tactics are not right we can't create all the opportunities we created, if the tactics were not right they could have scored the four goals they scored at FNB Stadium. The tactics were right, we could play until the next day, we don't score. We missed chances, they were lucky we didn't put one inside to change the game.
"We don't have to beat Kaizer Chiefs to win the league, excuse me? I mean there are 23 games left for us, it's okay, we can lose, so what? The team plays well, against Highlands it was a thorn in the flesh, we don't have the legs at the end because they [Kaizer Chiefs] were resting when we were playing on Wednesday. That's why we don't have a Themba Zwane today. It's okay, we accept, we lost. There's no issue, we keep going.
"Yes, maybe we'll score five as we scored against AmaZulu, so life goes on, I mean even Man City loses, so what? No, let's not make it a big issue, the boys played well, we created the chances and we didn't take them, it's just that it's a derby, it's a big game, ja it's only that.
"But when they benefit, I will say it, they are benefiting from referees' mistakes. I don't know if we're back to the '80s but all I'm saying is Chiefs are benefiting from refereeing mistakes. Even if it doesn't look that much of an offside or what, when it's Kaizer Chiefs buckle up!"
- TeamTalk Media
