Referee was fair-Wabo

Despite constantly seen questioning the referee’s decisions during Wednesday’s African Youth Championship group A tie between Cameroon and Rwanda, Cameroon coach said the referee did his job well.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Despite constantly seen questioning the referee’s decisions during Wednesday’s African Youth Championship group A tie between Cameroon and Rwanda, Cameroon coach said the referee did his job well.

Alain Wabo gave his verdict on referee Keita Yakhouba of Guinea who seemed to award free kicks at almost every strong tackle.

The tie ended in a 1-1 draw but Wabo and Cameroon’s technical bench were continuously seen fuming with Caf’s fourth official on a number of occasions following decisions they thought were unfair to their team.

However, at the post match press conference, the former Cameroon international said that the referee had done his job and that the team was now focusing on their decisive game against fellow strugglers, Mali.

"The referee did his job. My aim was to win the match but I didn’t. I now have to focus on the Mali game,” Wabo said.

Earlier in the day, Mali had taken another beating when they lost 2-0 to two-time champions Ghana. It was their second defeat in the tournament following a 2-1 defeat in their opening Group A tie against hosts Rwanda.

With Mali out, the race for the two semi-final slots is now down to Cameroon, Ghana and Rwanda. If Cameroon rescue three points against Mali and Ghana and Rwanda settle for a draw, then it will certainly go down to goal difference.

Rwanda wind up their group games this Saturday with a crucial tie against Ghana at Amahoro National Stadium while Cameroon battle Mali at Stade Regional in Nyamirambo. Kick-off for both games is at 3:30pm

Ends