Hawk-Eye says a “technical error led to an incorrect graphic being provided”.

Mata said “the decision was not very clear”, while United boss Jose Mourinho called for the video assistant referee (VAR) system to be made “perfect”.

The system is being trialled in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season.

It was praised after correctly overturning a decision to rule out Kelechi Iheanacho’s strike for Leicester in their 2-0 FA Cup third-round replay win over Fleetwood in January.

However, it was also described as a “shambles” by former England captain Alan Shearer after the system’s use failed to result in a penalty for Chelsea during their FA Cup replay with Norwich.

On Saturday, Mata appeared to have put Manchester United 2-0 up just before the break when he ran on to Ashley Young’s neat pass – but while the visiting team was celebrating, referee Kevin Friend listened to his earpiece for the VAR input.

After a wait of around a minute, the goal was ruled out for offside, with viewers watching the match live on BT Sport then presented with the faulty graphic.

Hawk-Eye’s statement read: “A technical error led to an incorrect graphic being provided by Hawkeye to BT Sport on Saturday.

“To confirm, the VAR saw the correct image with the correct lines to make the decision. This was a case of the wrong image being provided to the broadcaster and we apologise.”

Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku scored in each half for United.

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Source: BBC

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As Kotoko captain Amos Frimpong lifted the trophy aloft under the floodlights of the beautiful Tamale Stadium, FA Cup Committee Chairman Kurt Okraku, let out a big smile. #

For the organizers of the competition, this was yet another beautiful end to the great story of the FA Cup competition which had been running since it was revamped in 2011.

Better publicity

The MTN FA Cup competition has taken publicity more seriously than the GPL. Unlike the Ghana Premier League, GPL, the FA cup has also recognized the important role that social media plays in today’s competitively challenging media landscape, and have tapped into it to their own benefit.

The launch and draw for each round of the competition is very well patronized by the media, and they have contracted some media personnel with huge following on social media to send out tweets about the competition.

Their twitter handle is constantly active, and the FA Cup trophy goes on a tour ahead of the final, and generally creating a great buzz around the competition weeks before the final is played.

Ahead of this year’s final, the organizers spent weeks in Tamale promoting the final. They also created a hashtag #Unmissable, and a mascot named “Obia Nye Obia” just for the final.

The FA Cup final has been played in Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tamale to great turnout – a testament to their great publicity.

More credibility

While the GPL has often been riddled with accusations of referee manipulation and bribery allegations, the FA Cup competition has managed to rid itself of such rhetoric, hence giving the competition more credibility. Unfancied lower tier sides have knocked out premier league opposition in the past without one accusing the other of “buying” the referee. Winners of the competition are often seen as deserved, and clubs have been shown to attach more seriousness to this competition than the GPL.

Former Bechem United, Medeama and Great Olympics coach Tom Strand famously remarked, “I think I like the FA Cup better. It has more credibility than the league, I think and it is better organized.”

This is a great compliment to the competition from a coach who has managed three different sides in both the league and the FA Cup competition.

Better organization

The MTN FA Cup competition begins at the preliminary stage with 48 Division Two clubs, and 48 Division One clubs – that’s a whopping 96 clubs involved at that stage. The 48 qualified teams are then drawn against the 16 Premier league clubs for the round of 64; then round of 32; round of 16; all the way to the final.

If you do the math, the FA Cup competition involves an astonishing 112 clubs. Yet, the FA Cup Committee have distinguished themselves by ensuring a smooth run of the competition every season, with no unnecessary breaks and protests threatening the progress of the competition.

The GPL with only 16 clubs, has an unwanted habit of breaking the league for weeks, and sometimes months, thereby interrupting progress and interest. Plus, it’s a hub for legal battles. The league ended two weeks ago, and clubs are still winning boardroom points. Case in point – Olympics won 3 points against Hearts of Oak after a successful protest, while they had another against Elmina Sharks dismissed – both last week.

More money

The MTN FA Cup winner is guaranteed GHc 150,000 –  Ghc 50,000 as prize money for winning the final, and the additional Ghc 150,000 as support money for their participation in the CAF Confederation Cup competition. Note that the maximum number of matches a premier league team can play before winning the FA Cup is 6, and 7 games if the winner is a division one or division two club. MTN, headline sponsors of the competition, have also been known to dole out several other packages for participants. Clubs that get knocked out at the preliminary stage get compensatory prize money.

While it is not known yet how much exactly this year’s winner of the GPL will get as prize money, last year’s winners Wa All Stars were given $30,000. This year, each GPL club was set to receive $16,000 as their share of sponsorship money from broadcast sponsors of the league –StarTimes. The operational cost of playing 30 league games a season and 7 matches, are obviously miles apart. Put the figures into perspective, and it’s clear which makes more financial sense.

More competitive

The new FA Cup competition was reintroduced in 2011 after it went on a 10-year break without being played. And for the last 7 editions, Kumasi Asante Kotoko are the only traditional “giant” club to win it – in 2014 and 2017. The rest have been won by a lot of first-timers. In fact, the first three were won by first-timers.

In 2011, Nania FC, then in Division One, shocked Asante Kotoko in the final to lift the trophy. En route to the final, the Crocodiles knocked out then league champions Berekum Chelsea.

In 2012, it was New Edubiase who beat Ashantigold to win their first ever FA Cup title. Medeama followed suit in 2013, beating league champions Kumasi Asante Kotoko to their first title.

When Kotoko won it in 2014, it proved the abnormality instead of the usual, as Medeama returned to claim a second title in the 2015 final.

In 2016, two sides with fairy-tale stories met in the final. Sleeping giants Okwahu United had somehow masterminded a great run to the final, but their amazing story was denied a fairytale end, as Bechem United beat them to their own first ever FA Cup triumph, cementing the true meaning of the competitions’ newfound tagline –’Obia Nye Obia’.

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By: Fentuo Tahiru/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Having stumbled home fifth and missed out on Champions League qualification, criticism of the Gunners boss has reached unprecedented and unpalatable levels.

Wenger has continued undeterred and, ahead of talks about his future next week, oversaw a record seventh FA Cup triumph on Saturday, with Aaron Ramsey securing a memorable 2-1 win moments after Chelsea’s Diego Costa had cancelled out Alexis Sanchez’s controversial strike.

Victor Moses’ sending off after taking a tumble added intrigue to a final that enthralled from the outset, when an offside call against Sanchez was rightly overruled – although his handball in the build-up was missed.

The first half could have been so much worse for unusually disjointed Chelsea, with Gary Cahill having to clear Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck efforts off the line, while the latter saw a header come back off the post and Ramsey directed the rebound on to the woodwork.

Desperation soon crept into Chelsea’s improved second-half display and Moses took a tumble in the box searching for a penalty, only to be deservedly handed a second yellow card.

The Blues responded manfully as Costa somehow beat surprise selection David Ospina, yet Arsenal were not to be denied a 13th FA Cup.

Ramsey, the match-winner in 2014 against Hull, ran through to head home as Antonio Conte’s men went close to a famous double, without a celebratory cigar.

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Source: Talksport

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The match ended 1-1 after Jawu Thomas scored a 94th-minute equaliser to cancel Kwame Boateng’s goal in the 46th minute.

The tie went into the shootout and Kotoko prevailed 3-1.

Hearts of Oak made it to the round of 32 of the MTN FA Cup with a 2-1 win over Sporting Mirren at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.

The Phobians took the lead in the 25th minute through Anthony Nimo but they were pegged back when Mirren’s Jewel Arthur scored the equaliser in the 36th minute.

The two teams went at it but it was Hearts who found the winning goal in the 53rd minute through Patrick Razak.

Bechem United beat Young Apostles 2-0 while AshantiGold’s poor league form followed them into the cup after they lost 3-1 on penalties to Asokwa Deportivo. The match ended 1-1.

Bolga All Stars beat RTU 3-2 on penalties following a goalless draw in regulation time.

Heart of Lions went past NADM FC 4-0, Eleven Wonders were 2-0 winners over Aduana Stars, Emmanuel FC stunned Tema Youth 1-0, and WAFA beat Alke FC 2-0.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Electoral Commission of Ghana would on July 25 begin a nationwide supplementary registration for eligible voters who have attained the age of 18 years as well as those who could not register during the 2012 biometric registration.

The exercise, which would last for 10 days, would be carried out at designated registration centres for the various electoral areas.

Tema Metropolitan Electoral Director, Mr Watson Tizor Apentsui who gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said political parties must follow the required processes to address any challenges instead of resorting to creating chaos and confusion at registration centres.

Mr Apentsui added that his outfit would not hesitate to crack the whip on any political party and their agents who would want to disrupt the registration process.

He indicated that political parties could use the irregularity form to address any challenges as well as fill the challenge form if they have doubts about the eligibility of an applicant instead of the use of physical confrontation.

He added that an applicant, whose eligibility is challenged, would be allowed to go through the registration process but his or her identity card would be withheld by the commission until his or her eligibility is proven.

Mr Apentsui said as part of the registration process, applicants aged 18 and 19 years would be made to fill a questionnaire, while those aged 20 and above are required to fill an undertaken form.

The Tema Metro EC Director further stated that documents such as the National Health Insurance Card, National ID card, old voters’ ID card, driving license, and passport would be accepted as proof of citizenship and registration.

He however added that birth certificates and baptismal cards would not be accepted during the exercise.

Mr Apentsui indicated that those who do not have any of the accepted documents could resort to the use of two guarantors.

He explained that the two guarantors who must be registered voters in the applicant’s electoral area would fill a form to guarantee for the applicant to be registered.

On the number of centres, he stated that even though the Tema Metropolis and the Kpone-Katamanso District has 32 and 18 electoral areas respectively, the registration centres would be more than the electoral areas.

The Director said instead of one registration centre for each electoral area, some areas would have two centres due to their population and dispersed nature.

Such electoral areas are; Baatsona, Lashibi and Adjei-Kojo for the Tema Metro and Akansa and Mletsakpo for the Kpone-Katamanso District.

Mr Apentsui also indicated that each registration centre would have six officials consisting of two registration officers, one special duty officer, two data entry clerks, and one laminator.

He added that his outfit has provided extensive training for the officials and assured eligible applicants of a smooth registration exercise.
Source: GNA

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The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has stated that the biometric technology alone cannot address the challenges of any electoral system.

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