SAZI HADEBE

Was it a penalty or not? That’s the question that’s been raging on the African continent this week after Banyana Banyana’s 1-0 victory over neighbours Zambia in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) semifinal in Morocco on Monday.

So questionable was Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafesse Abebe’s decision to award Banyana a last-minute spot kick, that Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) appealed to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to change the decision and order the match to be replayed.

I fully understand the Zambians’ frustration. It’s the same way many South Africans felt when Senegalese referee Maguete Ndiaye awarded Ghana a soft penalty against Bafana Bafana in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium. Ndiaye’s decision last November last year helped secure Ghana passage to the playoff round, where they proceeded to beat Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

I must say that from where I was watching, having the benefit of watching the replay numerous times, Abebe, who by virtue of her decision is the number one hated person in Zambia, was a bit harsh on their national team.

“We call for the penalty to be cancelled, that a replay be ordered and the referee be banned from handling any games,” Sydney Mungala, FAZ communications manager wrote in Zambia’s complaint to Caf on Tuesday.

There’s no doubt that had Abebe done the same against Banyana we would have felt the same and SA Football Association would have written a similar letter to Caf. While FAZ may get Abebe suspended by Caf, the replay they’re seeking is impossible.

Banyana produce the football they dished up in their win against Nigeria when they meet Morocco on Saturday night?That’s the question that Ellis and her team have to answer.

The reason I say so is because protests such as the one launched by Zambia take weeks, sometimes months, to resolve, even when they’ve been brought before world governing body Fifa.

The Wafcon is scheduled to wrap up its business on Saturday, and Caf would have had less than a week to find a decision that may have satisfied Zambia. That decision could have been challenged by SA, which would make the process of finalising it even longer.

But there has to be a way for Caf to resolve cases such as the one Abebe faced when she called a foul against Banyana striker Jermaine Seoposenwe, which television replays showed was committed on the edge of the area. Abebe may have felt obliged to give Banyana the penalty following another penalty call she made earlier in the match in favour of Banyana was reversed after she watched it on VAR. Abebe did watch the second incident on VAR, but she still concluded it was a penalty.

We should remember VAR doesn’t make the final decision on these matters, but it’s the referee, which is why Abebe may have felt it was time to give Banyana the benefit of the doubt.

What this may teach Caf and Fifa, is that in case of a scenario as delicate as the one Abebe had to preside upon, perhaps those working on VAR must help the referee in making a final call. I believe Abebe may have changed her mind if a match commissioner, having viewed the incident, told her she must just give Banyana a free kick on the edge of the area rather than a penalty.

Consolation for Zambia should be that they have qualified for the first time for the Women’s Fifa World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand next year.

The Zambians have to accept that on the balance of play in Monday’s match, Banyana were slightly better in terms of the number of chances they created. The penalty occurred when Banyana were piling on the pressure and trying to get a winner before the match could go to extra time.

But as happy as I am to see Banyana in a Wafcon final for the sixth time, I think we have to agree they haven’t been firing on all cylinders. It was in the opening match against Nigeria, which Banyana won 2-1, that they really showed their pedigree.

For some reason, Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has failed to galvanise her team to play at the same tempo as their first match against Nigeria.

Banyana have won all five of their matches in Morocco and deserve their place in the final, but it is how they got there that is worrying.

Luck has been on Banyana’s side throughout the tournament and luck continued to flow their way after Abebe had awarded them that controversial penalty. The fact that Banyana won’t be meeting Nigeria but instead Morocco, who are in their first final, is a big advantage. But can Banyana produce the football they dished up in their win against Nigeria when they meet Morocco on Saturday night?

That’s the question Ellis and her team have to answer. What I know is that in all previous five Wafcon finals that Banyana contested, this is their best chance of winning it.

The experience Banyana players have over their Moroccan counterparts is so wide it’s hard to see them not winning. But is the discipline and ability to absorb pressure, which will come with Morocco having thousands of fans cheering them on the stands, be enough to see our team through.

Even the absence of star striker Thembi Kgatlana, who got injured in the third match against Botswana, cannot be an excuse for Banyana not to win gold on Saturday. Ellis’s team has to show that they’ve grown since they lost to Nigeria in the 2018 final. They have to show they also learnt something in the World Cup in France in 2019.

A loss will be a huge setback for women’s football in SA. A win will no doubt inspire a lot of girls to want to be part of women’s football, one of the fastest growing sports globally.

But while we anticipate what Banyana can deliver, we have to be honest about the standard of not just our team but what we’ve seen at Wafcon, especially when you compare it with what we’re seeing in England in the Uefa Women’s Championship where England, Germany and France have showed their class.

England, for instance, qualified for the quarterfinals where they met Spain on Wednesday, having scored 14 goals and conceded not a single one in the group matches. Germany topped their group having scored nine and conceded zero goals.

It is, however, in the standard of football being played where the gap really is. African teams, including Banyana and Nigeria, do not come close to most of these top European teams.

Only when the continent’s standard has improved, that we can expect our teams to challenge for honours at the World Cup.

At the moment, qualifying for the second round in next year’s World Cup will be taken as some form of progress for an African team at the global showpiece.

So, as Banyana look to win their maiden Wafcon in Morocco on Saturday, the biggest task has to be to build a competitive team that won’t just make up the numbers in a year’s time in Australia-New Zealand.