The Ghana vs. Portugal was almost a tightly contested affair until the penalty decision crept in to change the narrative, according to Otto Addo, the manager of the Black Stars.
Otto Addo, the head coach of Ghana in his post-match press conference, criticized the Cristiano Ronaldo penalty judgment in the wake of his team’s 3-2 World Cup loss to Portugal on Thursday.
In the second half of the game, Mohammed Salisu, a defender, knocked down Cristiano Ronaldo.
The ex-Manchester United attacker then took the penalty shot.
After the match, Addo criticized American referee Ismail Elfath for awarding Portugal the penalty.
“The referee gave a penalty which wasn’t a penalty – everyone saw that. Why? Because it is Ronaldo or something?” Otto Addo told beIN Sport.
“I think you’ve to ask the referee. I have no proof of that. We were playing the ball and then there was contact,” Addo added at his post-match press conference when asked if he believed the foul was given because it was Ronaldo.
“I don’t know whether they weren’t paying or whether the VAR wasn’t paying attention. If you look at the replay, we played the ball, it was actually a foul against us.
“If somebody scores a goal, congratulations. But this was really a gift. Up to the penalty, everything was possible. Then the game got a little bit wild.”
Ghana’s next match is on Monday against South Korea.