Equatorial Guinea head coach, Rodolfo Bodipo, has blamed the centre referee, Abou Coulibaly, for their 3-1 loss to Nigeria on Tuesday in Agadir, insisting that the arbiter made two wrong calls in favour of the home-based Super Eagles in the final Group C game at the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Equatorial Ginuea scored their first goal of the tournament courtesy of a header from Nsi Eyama in the 40th minute, but second half goals from Anthony Okpotu, Dayo Ojo and a penalty goal from substitute Rabiu Ali cancelled out the curtain raiser to send Nigeria through to the quarter-finals.
Bodipo blamed referee Coulibaly for delaying his player on the sideline longer than expected before the equaliser was scored by Okpotu and also claimed the clash between his defender and Okpotu inside the area should not have been adjudged a penalty offence.
When asked during his post match conference with the journalist in Agadir, if he thought the incident should have resulted in a penalty, Bodipo said: “No, of course, but things like these happen to small countries like us.
“We didn’t win though, but we have reservations with the officiating for the first goal we conceded. We were one man down and the referee delayed the player getting back on the pitch. The third goal was not a clean penalty.
“As I said earlier, we came here with this young team to gain experience.We played a strong team in Nigeria.”
Equatorial Guinea making their debut in the tournament scored one goal and lost all three group games.
