Retired FIFA referee Thomas Richard Attifu has explained why referee Abdul Latif Adaari was right in his decision not to award a penalty to Techiman Eleven Wonders during Friday’s Ghana Premier League clash at the Ohene Ameyaw Park in Techiman.
Hearts defender Robert Addo Sowah handled the ball inside the penalty box in the first-half but referee Adaari ignored calls for a penalty and signalled play to continue.
The incident immediately sparked controversy on social media across the Ghanaian football fraternity with fans sharing varied opinion on the incident.
Meanwhile Ghana’s leading sports television outlet GTV Sports+ contacted the former center man to explain whether the FIFA referee was right or wrong in his decision not to award a penalty against Hearts of Oak.
“If a player wants to attack that is the way they stand if you look at the images clearly. So it is natural position. If I get access to the footage from a different angle I can further explain why the decision was correct. But, looking at the images available from the replay I won’t go in for a handball to be honest with you,” he told GTV Sports+.
“Not all handballs are handballs. You need to ask yourself. The action must be done deliberately. He did not handle the ball deliberately because if a player wants to tackle the ball that is how he must stand to be able to tackle the ball so it wasn’t a deliberate attempt. So that makes it a normal position. Then again the distance between the shot and the player is very close so we don’t accept it as a foul inside the box. Where we would accept a situation like that as a foul is when the situation is a goal scoring opportunity,” he added.
“So from all indications referee Adaari took the correct decision not to award a penalty to Wonders,” he concluded.
The win has helped Hearts of Oak to the summit of the Ghana Premier League table after sparking a four-game winning streak.
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