[ 2015-02-04 ]

AFCON 2015: Gabonese referee to officiate Ghana -Equatorial Guinea clash
CAF has made a disputable decision by appointing
controversial Gabonese referee Eric Arnaud
Otogo-Castane to take charge of Ghana’s crucial
2015 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final match
against hosts Equatorial Guinea on Thursday.

The divisive appointment of the match official
from neighboring Gabon comes just two days after
the referee in Equatorial Guinea’s match
favoured the host nation by awarding a dubious
penalty which helped the home side to edge past
Tunisia to reach the last four.

This has raised suspicions that the referees
favour the home side Equatorial Guinea and with
the referee coming from their neighboring country
Gabon, the misgivings by Ghana football fans
could be right.

Eric Arnaud Otogo Castane will be assisted by
Abdelhak Etchiali of Algeria as the assistant
referee 1 while Jerson Emiliano dos Santos of
Angola will be the assistant referee 2.

Nigerien Yahaya Mahamadou will be the assistant
referee 3 while Mehdi Abid Charef of Algeria will
be the reserve referee.

Marcel Njipendi Kuotu from Cameroon will be
referee assessor, with Mauritanian Massa Diarra as
general coordinator and Khaled Lemkecher from
Tunisia as assistant general coordinator.

Referee Eric Otogo-Castane has already courted
controversy in this tournament as Tunisian FA
lodged a formal complaint to Caf over his
performance in their match against Cape Verde for
the penalty he awarded the latter.

There were question marks over whether Ben
Youssef’s challenge was in the box and how much
contact was made but referee Otogo-Castane pointed
to the spot.

However, the referee did superbly to spot that Ali
Maaloul’s foul on Heldon in the 38th minute was
just outside the box with Cape Verde appealing for
a penalty.

The 39-year-old was in charge when Ghana faced
Mali in the 2013 Nations Cup third-place playoff.

The Black Stars, whose last triumph at the Africa
Cup of Nations was in 1982, dismissed Guinea’s
Syli Nationale 3-0 in one of the quarter-finals on
Sunday – a match also superintended by Pinnick.

The National Lightning (Equatorial Guinea National
Team’s nickname) stunned Tunisia 2-1 in Bata on
Saturday and know they have a mountain to surmount
against the four –time winners at Estadio Nuevo
do Malabo.

05 February 2015, 20:00 CET
Semifinal, Malabo
Ghana – Equatorial Guinea
Referee: Eric Otogo-Castane (Gabon)
Assistant Referee 1: Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria)
Assistant Referee 2: Jerson Emiliano dos Santos
(Angola)
Fourth Official: Mehdi Abid-Charef (Algeria)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Yahaya Mahamadou
(Niger)
CAF Referee Assessor: Marcel Njipendi Kuotu
(Cameroon)

Source - Joy News

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