Mandla Ncikazi has controversially claimed that VAR didn’t work at times during Orlando Pirates’ CAF Champions Confederations Cup quarter-final second leg win over Simba SC and hailed the club’s fans.
The Sea Robbers reached their first semi-final in a CAF competition since 2015, beating Simba 4-3 on penalties after the match ended 1-0 in 90 minutes, levelling out the Tanzanian’s first-leg lead.
Goalkeeper Richard Ofori was the hero of the night after saving one Simba spot-kick and converting Pirates’ winning penalty.
Ncikazi was cheerful after match but also claimed VAR wasn’t working properly again.
“[It was] nerve-wrecking, it’s really African football but I thought if there was one team that deserved to win today it was Orlando Pirates,” he said.
“Not even to go to penalties, for the number of chances that we created. But I loved the composure from our team with everything that was happening.
“At some point I saw the officials going to VAR, which was functioning, at some point, it didn’t function.
“I don’t know why from where I was standing, I also saw two handballs. I don’t know whether it’s a manipulation of the rule but it would’ve been nice to refer the two handballs to VAR.
“Why it was not working, it’s still amazing in my eyes.”
Ncikazi also thanks the club’s fans for their support inside Orlando Stadium and gave credit to his players for their performance.
“But having said that, let me thank the Pirates supporters. They gave our players the necessary support, we needed that,” he added.
“I want to thank the players, for their effort. If Pirates can be likes this, not only representing – which is what we told them – they’re not only representing the badge only, it was Pirates, it was South Africans and all millions of internationals that we have in our team, the Nigerians that we have, the Ghanaians, the Namibians and the Zimbabweans and for me that is the pride that I have.
“And the patience from management. We’re heading into the right direction, let’s take it from there.”
Pirates will face the winner between Al Ahly Tripoli and Al Ittihad in the semi-final.
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