Renowned former referee Victor Hlungwani has given his verdict on what he believes was a legitimate goal for by Patrick Maswanganyi during Bafana Bafana's friendly match against Andorra.
South Africa had to come from behind through Elias Mokwana to salvage a draw against their less fancied opposition, who had opened the scoring as a result of a horror error from goalkeeper Ricardo Goss just six minutes into the match.
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However, South Africa also very nearly got a winning goal when Maswanganyi’s header was cleared off the line by Andorra goalkeeper Josep Antoni.
Social media corridors have since been flooded with claims that the goal should have stood.
However, reviewing the match on SABC Sport on Monday evening, Hlungwani explained that the goal-bound effort did not cross the goal-line.
"Maswanganyi thought he scored a goal, but today we want to check if the ball crossed the line or not," Hlungwani said.
"This is Law 10 that talks about methods of scoring or a method of determining the outcome of the match.
"We can see that the whole (circumference) of the ball, in relation to the goalpost, did not cross the line. They raised their hands (to protest) and the referee said, 'Nope, the whole of the ball did not cross over the goal line, therefore no goal'."
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?? C??RR??C?? || ??NC??RR??C?? ?? Victor "The Principal" Hlungwani explains...?? LIVE ?? SABC Sport ?? SABC+ ?? https://t.co/hibb8lgo8P #SABCSportFootball #Soccerzone pic.twitter.com/Ou9jHVQlJT
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) March 25, 2024
"Here, in relation to the goalpost, that’s where we can take the judgement and conclude that the whole of the ball (did not cross the line).
"There is not supposed to be even a piece (of the ball that doesn't cross the line), the whole of the ball must cross the line. In this instance, there is a piece (of the ball) that we can see.
"So, we are not suppose to be seeing that piece."
Meanwhile, Bafana’s next test comes in the form of Algeria, and the two nations will go head-to-head on Tuesday evening. Kick-off is at 23:00.
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