‘We’re not respected at all,’ fumes AmaZulu coach Franco Martin about refs

Pablo Franco Martin was furious with what he saw as poor officiating in AmaZulu's 4-2 defeat by Orlando Pirates in the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.

The Usuthu coach was particularly not impressed with referee Masixole Bambiso's decision to award Pirates what appeared a soft penalty that led to the cancellation of the home side's 1-0 lead just before the end of the first half.

TV replays showed there was hardly contact between Usuthu defender Taariq Fielies and Pirates midfielder Makhehlene Makhaula inside the area, in the challenge that saw Bambiso pointing to the spot to give Pirates' two-goal hero Patrick Maswanganyi a chance to equalise. This was after Usuthu took the lead via Pule Ekstein in the 30th minute.

Usuthu's coach felt the officiating left a sour taste after an eventful and exciting match played in a superb atmosphere at a packed Moses Mabhida, which was sold out hours before kickoff with Pirates enjoying the majority of the support.

“It's such a pity this kind of a game, which was amazing for both teams, must be decided the way it was,” a fuming Franco said.

“I think it's a pity we can't talk about football today but talk about how things happened resulting in us not winning the game. It's not the first, second, third, fourth or fifth [time AmaZulu have been at the wrong end of officiating decisions] in the season.

“I think we're not respected at all and no-one is doing anything regarding what is happening in these kinds of games, which are decided by people who are not the 22 men who are supposed to [affect the result].”

Despite the defeat, Franco was delighted with how his side fought, especially in the first half where Usuthu managed to turn the game around when Pirates looked the side more likely to get the goals with the number of chances they were creating.

“I have to tell you I'm so proud of this club, of this team and the way we played; of the way we competed and the way we stood up again after what happened in the last minute of the first half.

But in the end, instead of just talking about the amazing things we're achieving, we're talking about the results decided by some people [the officials] who don't have the capacity and even sometimes don't even show that they're respectful as human beings.

—  Pablo Franco Martin

“Any player could have given up [after the penalty] and not be mentally in the game again. But we were capable of coming back, and we hit the crossbar and we could have won against the best team in this kind of [cup] competition in recent history.

“We reached the first quarterfinal after 12 years, but we cannot reach the semifinal and I understand that it happened not just because of football reasons, and it's a pity.

“But in the end, instead of just talking about the amazing things we're achieving, we're talking about the results decided by some people [the officials] who don't have the capacity and even sometimes don't even show that they're respectful as human beings.”

Franco's side face Pirates again in a DStv Premiership fixture in Orlando Stadium on Saturday. The Usuthu coach said he expects the same treatment by the referees in Johannesburg.

“The problem is that results are not according to our performances. Probably we're going to face the same situations and from there it's going to be a tough game. With other things [such as bad officiating], it's going to be much more tough.”

The AmaZulu boss is not the first coach in the PSL to complain about the referees this season. Franco's Spanish counterpart in the Pirates dugout, Jose Riveiro, doesn't miss an opportunity to comment about referees' mistakes, especially in games in which his side end up losing or drawing.