COSAFA U-20: Pofera slams referee after Malawi’s loss to South Africa

Malawi under-20 boys national football team’s coach Millias Pofera slammed poor officiating in the COSAFA Youth Championship final which they lost 3-0 to South Africa on Sunday.

The Young Flames’ handler suggested that referee, Owen Manenda, favoured Amajita in some of the decisions during the match in Windhoek, Namibia.

“I would like to thank the organisers of this competition, COSAFA,” he said. “This is a very good development for the competition for the young kids, but we have to work on our officiation.

“Our number 10 [Mwisho Mhango] was fouled but the referee just ignored it. Each team must be treated equally. If we are treating other teams in a separate way as if they are special then that is very bad, but I accept the result and move on.”

By blaming the referees, the Young Flames mentor made a U-turn two days after he told reporters that referees are human beings, and their mistakes ought to be understood.

Overall, the Malawi coach said he was happy with his charges’ performance after they beat Namibia 2-0, Zimbabwe and Zambia by 2-1 margins in between a 1-1 draw with Angola before losing to South Africa.

“We wanted to achieve something. We wanted to leave a statement here and we have done just that. The boys deserve a pat on the back. Having 16 players in this tournament is no mean achievement,” Pofera said.

It was the second time in 22 years that Malawi reached the final of the under-20 competition.