FC Goa reach out to AIFF to review the red cards in Kerala loss
THE GAME INVOLVED A LOT OF CONTROVERSIES and FC Goa came out worse hit of two. Goa and Kerala were the teams that struggling to avoid being at the wrong end of the points table for a long time. That made the fixture so crucial.
The game saw many incidents that required the referee to take action. Some were just waved off by the referee and some decisions that he took were really questionable. Goa had bear the consequences of those decisions and felt undone by the manner the game ended.
FC Goa, in a letter to AIFF, complained about four of the incidents that changed the fate of the game.
- Gregory Red Card
- Richaryson cards
- Kerala fouls going unpunished
- Added time
1. Gregory Red Card
Goa went into half time leading by a goal they scored early in the first half. Kerela started the second half with a fast paced attack that left Goa defence is sixes and sevens. A shot taken on goal hit Gregory on the arm. The defender was retracting his arm when the shot came in, so to call that a deliberate handball is a absolutely correct but not sure if it was a straight red card.
The statement made in that regard was as below
“the penalty decision is acceptable and a yellow card would have been a more appropriate punishment.”
2. Richaryson cards
The assist in the only goal scored by Goa came from Richarlyson. He was cautioned in the first half involving in an altercation with Mehtab Hossain. Deep in the second half, when Goa were already a man down, Richarlyson came sliding in with two footed lunge at a Kerela player. This kind of tackle is treated as malicious and have even seen direct red issued for it.
In the appeal against the Richarlyson yellow, FC Goa enquired about the justification of the first and said the second yellow was "harmless".
3. Kerala fouls going unpunished
Zico has time and again complained that decisions have always gone against his team. After the last game, FC Goa started finger-pointing to fouls committed by Kerala which should have received some action from the referee.
Plays like Mohammed Rafi’s clash with Luciano Sobroza that left the defender bleeding, Belfort clash with Defender Gregory and Jhingan holding Rafael Dumas by the neck in an “obscene and unacceptable gesture.” did not bring out even a word of caution for the Kerala players involved. This brought FC Goa to question if the referee's decision were consistent or not.
4. Added time
Both halfs were one of the longest of ISL 3 so far. First half had six minutes added on and the second had a fairly long nine minutes of injury time. Part the reasons could have been Richarlyson refusing to walk away from the pitch when he received his second yellow. He sat on the pitch with legs stretched forward complaining about an injury he had suffered.
The statement, FC Goa made about the excess added time which also saw Kerala score the winning goal stated,
"There were six minutes of added time in the first half but the referee ended up playing 8.5 minutes and nine minutes in the second half left everyone shocked. Such amount of time is unprecedented and definitely impacted the match heavily against us,”
FC Goa play their next game today, November 11, when they host NorthEast United. Goa would be awaiting some positive news before the next game with bated breath.
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