AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin says its a “huge scandal” as the “games are not decided by the players” on the pitch.

Usuthu’s journey in the Nedbank Cup came to an end after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

However, Martin was left frustrated with the officiating throughout the match, especial with the penalty awarded to Pirates after Patrick Maswanganyi’s equaliser.

“Do you want to talk about football or about what really decided this game?” Martin told SuperSport TV after the game.

“This is the problem that we’re having here (in South Africa), the games are decided by some people who are not the players, again a scandal, a huge scandal. We played against the best team in this kind of competition.

“After 15 minutes they dominated us, they started the game very well, we balanced everything, we were leading the game. We won the first-half, even if the scoreboard says something different. We won the first half.

“And after that, in the second half, it was an open game, nice game, a nice fight, 2-2, we hit the crossbar, (we should have) won the game from there. At the end, with this score it seems like they are winning and it’s not true.

“And it’s something that is happening the whole season with AmaZulu, we don’t (get) any respect and the results are decided by someone else who thinks we don’t have families, that we don’t work very hard.”

“Do I need to tell you? Was it not evident? Do you really want me to answer? Didn’t you watch the game? The images, what happened?

“We received a red card (on the bench), which was crazy. The normal thing is that we didn’t control ourselves but again credit to my team because after such a scandal then we came back into the pitch, we controlled our emotions and we played with discipline, with quality.

“When you’re playing against these circumstances and we’re used to it. It’s a pity but we’re used to it, we know what we can expect when we’re playing against this kind of opponent.

“I’m sorry, this is what I feel. This is the anger we all have and I’m expressing that here. I think it’s a shame for the country.”

Photo by Nokwanda Zondi/BackpagePix