Young African coach Miguel Gamondi was left not impressed by the level of officiating as they lost 3-2 on penalties to Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League second-leg semifinal at Loftus Stadium on Friday night.  

As the game finished goalless draw and went straight to penalties, Yanga appeared to have got a goal in the second half when danger man Stephane Azizi Ki’s cracking strike crashed the crossbar and it appeared to have crossed the line, but it went for VAR review, who confirmed that the entire ball did not cross the line.  

Gamondi said on the SABC Sport after the game: “It is impossible to fight with VAR and this is very unfair of what happened here.  

“But what can I do? If I speak, I’ll be sanctioned. But even the (first) assistant (Seydou Tiama) told me ‘Coach, from my mother, it was a goal’.  

“When you play against a big team like this, it’s unfair and it is like that, what can I do? I want to congratulate my players, because they fought, and they deserve more because we created more chances than Sundowns. Sundowns only created clear a chance was the last free kick.”  

To be fair, Yanga, despite Sundowns hogging the ball possession, were very dangerous in the second half on the break, which was the only thing they had.  

They should have stolen it later when Azizi Ki sent a delightful cross, but Clement Mzize failed to apply the finish in front of Ronwen Williams’ post. 

“We created two clear chances, but football is like that, but it is not good for African football based on what happened today,” reiterated Gamondi, who won the league title with Sundowns as co-coach in the 2005/06 season. 

“We were playing against a big team, but they don’t need VAR and I’m very disappointed. I think all the supporters of Yanga, more than 30 million, must see because this is very bad.”  

Sundowns, in the semifinal, will now meet a winner between Esperance of Tunisia against Asec Mimosas of Ivory Coast who are playing on Saturday. If ES Tunis fails to win, with the game locked into a goalless draw in the first leg of the quarters, Sundowns will qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup next year.