The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has criticised referee Eric Otogo-Castane of Gabon for
awarding a late controversial penalty to Algeria in Friday’s 1-1 draw against Nigeria in the last
game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Super Eagles were forced to a draw when Yacine Brahaimi converted a late penalty which
cancelled out John Ogu’s 62nd minute goal for Nigeria.
CAF has criticised the incident that led to the penalty in their match report of the game, posted
on cafonline.com, describing the referee’s decision as harsh.
CAF noted that “Algeria convert soft penalty to hold Nigeria.”
CAF insisted that Shehu Abdullahi who was adjudged to have fouled Brahimi in the box didn’t foul
the forward.
“Yacine Brahimi won and converted a harshly-awarded late penalty to rescue a 1-1 draw for Algeria
against already-qualified Nigeria Friday in a World Cup Africa zone Group B dead-rubber.
“The Gabonese referee ruled that Abdullahi Shehu fouled Brahimi as he moved into the box in
Constantine, but big-screen replays suggested otherwise”, reads the piece on cafonline.com.
