Super Falcons: The penalty affected us psychologically — Morocco coach blames VAR for losing WAFCON final

Morocco women's national team head coach Jorge Vilda blamed refereeing decisions for his side's defeat in the CAF WAFCON final to Nigeria. 

The Atlas Lionesses took a healthy 2-0 lead into halftime in front of a packed home crowd at the Olympic Stadium. However, the Super Falcons turned it around in the second-half to win their 10th WAFCON title. 

Nigeria had two favourable penalty decisions in the match, and it was the second that had Vilda peeved. 

The first incident was a penalty call for Nigeria when Nouhaila Benzina handled the ball in the box. After a VAR review, referee Antsino Twanyanyukwa pointed to the spot and Esther Okoronkwo converted. 

Folashade Ijamilusi equalised for Nigeria, and when it seemed like Justin Madugu's side were going to clinch it, Morocco were handed a penalty, as the ball struck Oluwatosin Demehin, and the referee pointed to the spot. 

However, upon video review, the penalty decision was rescinded, and Nigeria went on to score the winner. Vilda believes that it should not have been the case, claiming that the referee was not shown the right angle on the monitor.  

"We can't understand the decision made by the referee," he told ESPN. "she gave a penalty, but then the images we saw were not the same as those presented to the referee.

"The images were clear; we were sure she had to give a penalty," he continued. "There was a penalty that should have been; the referee had blown for it, but then [went] to VAR.

"We saw there was a hand, but the referee took it off us. That's what determined that we weren't able to celebrate this match – the penalty that was taken away from us."

He went on to explain that the decision had a psychological effect on his players, suggesting that it caused them to concede the late goal. 

"The fact it wasn't given as a penalty had an immediate impact on the players. It had a psychological impact that shocked us; it was a massive hit to the players.”

"It made it hard for us to come back [than had it been given]; the match was harder after this. It's true that we regressed, but we had to make more effort. Football was hard towards our team."