The Ghanaian coach did not spare the refereeing team for this Thursday’s match, not even Cristiano Ronaldo. For Otto Addo, the penalty awarded to Portugal that led to the first goal was a “special gift” from the referee to the captain of the National Team. And he resorted to irony to analyze the situation: “When someone scores in five consecutive World Cups, congratulations. But that was really a gift. A special gift from the referee.”
“The referee called a penalty that was not a penalty. We have all seen it. But why did you do it? because it was ronaldo [que ia marcar] or something like that?” The coach of the African country was outraged, who arrived and asked FIFA to “talk” with Ismail Elfath, the American who refereed the match, but that turned out to be “impossible.” “There was no penalty, it was a bad decision. I don’t know why the VAR didn’t intervene. Is incredible.”
In a post-match press conference, Otto Addo acknowledged being “very disappointed” with the defeat against Portugal, “especially because of the penalty situation”. “Until then we had a good game,” he confirmed, adding that, before that, all the outcomes were open. “Then the game went a bit crazy.”
Acknowledging that Portugal had an advantage in possession of the ball – “we knew they were good at it” – the Ghanaian coach indicated that the team was “good at defending”. Ronaldo’s goal made everything more “complicated”, he stressed, especially in terms of reducing the deficit against a “world-class team”. Otto Addo stressed, however, that the selection was “brave” and even “lucky”: “We were close to 3-3,” he recalled, alluding to Iñaki Williams’ “trap” that almost deceived Diogo Costa.
Given the poor results of the African teams in competition, Otto Addo compared them with the European teams: “We have five, six teams, while the Europeans have 13, 14. It’s not a fair comparison.”???????? So far, all the African teams have lost (as is the case with Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon) or tied (Tunisia and Morocco) in this World Cup, many of them “deserving to win”, according to the Ghanaian coach. “Even defeats can be contested, like Senegal’s against the Netherlands.”
Looking to the future, the Ghanaian coach believes that the team has “opportunities” to qualify for the round of 16 of the World Cup. “We have an opportunity”he said, expressing that the team wants to beat South Korea. And it is that, despite the criticism of Ronaldo, he even wants “Portugal to beat Uruguay”. The reason? May the country pass second in group H.
Source: Observadora
