Gabonese captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have pointed fingers at Ivorian referee Désiré Noumanduez for playing a part in their team’s elimination at the 2015 African Nations Cup.
Gabon were beaten 2-0 by hosts Equatorial Guinea on Sunday in Bata and were left disappointed despite winning their first match against Burkina Faso but the team believes their exit happened in unfair circumstances after they were not awarded a penalty.
Team captain Aubameyang said the decision was very incorrect especially as the Gabonese lost to their neighbours and rivals. It is really terrible when you lose a derby moreso when there was a quarter final place at stake.”
“It was really annoying because we should have had a penalty. At this level of competition, it is infuriating to see such errors being made but we will not look for excuses.
We will take the good with the bad and return stronger in 2017,” the player said in an interview with radio France International on Sunday.
Gabon goalie Didier Ovono was equally unhappy with what had gone on and said tournament organisers, CAF, had influenced the outcome of the match.
“The referee gave them an small advantage because they needed help. They cried after their first group match (against Congo) for a disallowed goal and today, they got a penalty. You know, it is all down to CAF. They want people to keep going to the stadia. We acknowledge we have been eliminated but going out like this is not good for African football.”
Gabon were hoping to at least get to another quarter final of the African Nations Cup and coach Jorge Costa had introduced a few new players to help them achieve their players but it was not possible.
However, Aubameyang and Ovono looked at the knowledge of the team in relation to the tournament and said a large part of the team was new to the tournament.
Aubameyang: “We took a hammer blow but we need to put things in perspective. Our team is a young one and we will learn from our mistakes. I think we were little naive in the last two group matches. There was only a sprinkling of players who had played an African Nations Cup before. For the others, it was their first time.’ Ovono: ” It was a Nations Cup for the young players. They must learn. During the qualifiers, we showed a strong team spirit. We put together a series of good matches and we managed to get to the tournament. We won our first match in the competition but it fell apart for us. Our solidarity was our strength during the qualifiers and in the main tournament, everyone wanted to play their part. That got a lot of bias against us but we did not deserve to be eliminated at the first round.”
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana