Zambia have launched an official protest over their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final defeat to Banyana Banyana.
The Copper Queens lost 1-0 to South Africa on Monday evening, thanks to a late penalty that was converted by Linda Motlhalo in the 92nd minute.
However, the Zambia Football Association have now lodged a protest over the call of match official Lidya Abebe, who opted to point to the spot after being alerted by the VAR and reviewing a foul on Jermaine Seoposenwe on the pitch-side screen.
“The result is to me a true reflection of what it was supposed to be,” Zambia coach Bruce Mwape said after the match.
“To me I’ve got no idea, I’m sure the penalty was decided by the referee and the cameras.”
Credible journalist Osasu Obayiuwana first reported about the protest on Tuesday, stating that Zambia have taken the matter to CAF and are demanding a replay of the match.
Zambia would also have needed to alert the match official directly after the match about their intentions to protest, and Zambia FA spokesperson Sidney Mungala confirmed their protest to iDiski Times.
“Yes we did file a protest letter with CAF over the poor officiating of that match. The protest was filed just after the game,” he said in a brief statement.
Similar cases in the past have shown that a replay based on an on-field decision is likely be rejected, as happened with Bafana Bafana’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ghana.
At the time of publishing, CAF did not respond to this publication when contacted regarding the Zambia FA letter.
