Last weekend Zesco United suffered their first defeat of the year after losing 1-0 to F.C MUZA in Mazabuka.
MUZA were awarded a penalty in the first half which Andrew Phiri converted to give his side the lead.
However, as the game progressed, Zesco United were denied a goal that was ruled offside. This did not sit well with the Ndola-based team’s keeper, Cyril Mwenya Chibwe, who expressed disappointment with the officiating.
Chibwe accused match officials of having influenced the game and called on FAZ to address the matter.
“They[FC MUZA] were awarded a penalty that wasn’t one,” Chibwe was quoted by his club’s media. “We had two penalty claims, which they ignored. We scored a goal, which I don’t understand how it was overruled for offside because the goalkeeper parried the ball and the goal scorer was far from the action. It is disappointing, largely because of the poor officiating. FAZ needs to address these problems because it’s wrong.”
“Learn to accept defeat and move on,” F.C MUZA coach reacts
However, F.C. Muza coach Lameck Banda has refuted the claims that his team received preferential treatment from match officials.
“I don’t like talking about Referees, because my responsibility is to prepare my team and whatever happens in the game from the officiating side, I cannot comment,” he told BolaNews.
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“But I think we have also played away games and beaten teams away from home. So when we beat a big team like Zesco United they start complaining. But we have beaten teams away, we have won games at home, and we have lost games away, so I think that’s not a big deal, people should just learn to accept defeat and move on.
Banda wondered why the same teams who had failed to beat his side away from Mazabuka, were always complaining whenever his team won at home.
