Former Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba has said bad officiating led to Nigeria’s ouster from the 2018 World Cup.
Nigeria lost 2-1 to Argentina on Tuesday to finish third in Group D and crash out of the competition. Lionel Messi and Marcos Rojo scored for the two-time champions while Victor Moses scored for the Super Eagles from the spot.
Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir failed to award a penalty to the Eagles after Rojo had headed the ball onto his hand in the penalty area under a challenge from Odion Ighalo.
The referee consulted VAR after the insistence of Eagles captain Mikel Obi but ruled that the defender committed no wrong in the act.
Drogba, who was a guest analyst on BBC One, said the referee favoured Argentina unjustly with the decision not to award the second penalty.
He said, “I think it’s a bad decision from the referee not to give Nigeria a second penalty. It’s the defender’s mistake – he didn’t read the ball well. It’s difficult to give the penalty because it would take Argentina out of the competition.”
___
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2018 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
