Yanga have accepted their defeat to Simba in the NBC Mainland Premier League match at Uhuru Stadium two days ago. However, there were incidents during the game that, had they involved Simba players and the Msimbazi Reds gone on to lose, would likely have sparked heated debate across the football community to this day.
One of the most serious incidents in the match was a dangerous tackle on Duke Abuya by Simba winger Libasse Gueye.
A similar incident was the one that led to Stephane Aziz Ki missing the match against Simba after he was shown a red card in a game against Geita Gold, following a review through the FVS system.
In the match two days ago, Gueye’s challenge appeared to go unpunished. Even if Yanga’s technical bench did not spot the incident in time to request a review, the FVS officials had an opportunity to assist referee Ahmed Arajiga in identifying the incident.
I find it hard to believe that if a player were to suffer a dangerous tackle that put his life at risk, the FVS officials would ignore it simply because the technical bench of the affected team had failed to notice it.
It was a serious foul that warranted a straight red card for Gueye. The player was fortunate to remain on the pitch for all 90 minutes.
Since the incident went unnoticed by the match officials, the 72-Hour Committee should step in and impose the appropriate punishment on the player involved.
The incident has left Abuya injured, and he could be sidelined for more than two weeks while recovering.
