Chronicle Editor
Grace Chingoma in YAOUNDE, Cameroon—
Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1THE Mighty Warriors suffered the injustice of being robbed a point they deserved after a shocking decision by the match officials to disallow their equaliser in this African Women Cup of Nations tie here last night.
On a day that CAF announced the suspension of the referee who gave Bafana Bafana a dubious penalty, in their World Cup qualifier against Senegal, Zimbabwe were at the receiving end of another horror decision by the match officials.
Burundi referee Suavis Iratunga, whose handling of the match was questionable throughout the contest, somehow disallowed a clearly perfect goal by Felistas Muzongondi who struck from the blind side moments after Egypt had taken the lead.
The referee first indicated a goal, for which it was, but after consulting with his assistant disallowed the effort for reasons best known to themselves.
Television replays clearly showed that Muzongondi was not off-side, by a country mile, with a number of Egyptian defenders ahead of her when the ball was whipped across goal.
Neither was there any infringement on the Egyptian goalkeeper, who theatrically went down after being beaten by the effort, and amid confusion, the referee decided not to award the goal.
It was a cruel blow for Zimbabwe and could mean the difference between coming home early or qualifying for the semi-finals.
Egypt found the opener in the 83rd minute, through Samya Adam, who beat defender Eunice Chibanda to scramble the ball home.
It was a bad day for Southern Africa with Banyana Banyana also going down in their match against Cameroon in the group.
The South Africans, who lost 0-1, will now meet Egypt, while Zimbabwe take on Cameroon in their final round of games.
Cameroon have already qualified after winning their first two matches.
Online Reporter