Former Ghana midfielder Laryea Kingston eulogizes referee over penalty incident in Nigeria stalemate against Ghana in Abuja

Former Ghana midfielder Laryea Kingston has applauded Tunisian referee Sadok Selmi who officiated the crunch second leg of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Ghana despite concerns about penalty incident in the game.

The Black Stars held the Super Eagles to a 1-1 draw which secured them a spot at the Mundial in Qatar this year’s after qualifying with 1-1 aggregate.

Arsenal star Thomas Partey opened the scoring of the decisive game after 10 minutes at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong converted a penalty to draw the Super Eagles level after a VAR decision in the 22nd minute.

A cross-session of Ghanaians seemed not to be impressed with the performance of the referee especially awarding a penalty for the Super Eagles.

But in an interview with Kwaku Sarpong Sarkodie of Koforidua-based Bryt FM, the former Ghana international eulogized the officiating officials as he believes they had their decisions right.

“To me, the officials did very well. One may argue the penalty was soft but at the moment there is nothing like that in football. If you watch clip, there was a contact and so far as there was a contact, it is an infringement”

“So, I think the referees had their calls right, Video Assistant referee helped them to execute their job well” he said.

Ghana is expected to know their group opponents on Friday, April 1, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

The four-time African Champions are in pot 4 with Kurt Okraku and other Ghana FA officials expected to fly out of the country for the 72nd congress in Qatar.

The Black Stars team on Wednesday met Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo after securing qualification to the World Cup over noisy neighbours Nigeria.