World Cup (Q): Akpeyi admits Nigeria ‘benefitted’ from controversial goal

Former Nigeria national team goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi has confessed that the Super Eagles benefited from a ‘controversial goal’ to snatch a 1-1 draw against South Africa in A FIFA World Cup qualifier at the Free State Stadium on Tuesday.

Bafana Bafana had taken the lead after Nigeria defender William Troost-Ekong beat his own goalkeeper in the 25th minute. However, Nigeria equalised on the stroke of halftime through Calvin Bassey.

Television replays later showed that Bassey did not head the ball and actually used his hand to guide it past South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and into the back of the net. The match officials did not spot the handball and the goal stood.

Giving his verdict on the goal, Akpeyi said as quoted by CompleteSports: “With the referee standing behind, he couldn’t get the view of the action, so he was also a bit far away from the action.

“It was difficult for him to pick that, whether it hit his hand or not. Not even the linesman can see from that far, and unfortunately, there is no VAR for the referee to go back to the TV and check. But in my view, Nigeria benefited, and we hope that this will help us to get the other points that we need to qualify for the World Cup.”

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