'We're playing for R20 million!' Former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi feels robbed after Kaizer Chiefs win over Golden Arrows, taking aim at PSL insisting 'nobody cares'

Golden Arrows head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has felt cheated after Kaizer Chiefs beat his side 1-0 in a Premier Soccer League game on Tuesday at the FNB Stadium.

The former Sundowns mentor is not convinced by the manner in which Chiefs scored; to him, the scorer, Aden McCarthy, was in an offside position, and thus the goal should have been ruled out.

The 54-year-old tactician also wants the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in order to help solve the level of officiating. 

“The first thing I can tell you is that the PSL will forever have issues for as long as this issue of VAR is not taken care of. The stakes are very high; we work very hard to build our teams, and if you want to see that this goal was an offside, just wait for the touch that goes to Silva, and already Aiden McCarthy is on the other side; he is offside,” Mngqithi told SuperSport TV after the match.

“And we lose the game; nobody cares. We concede goals; people are saying you concede goals because you don’t defend well, but the reality is the league must work very hard on working on this thing. The game has become too dynamic; the game has become too dynamic. 

“It’s not us; it’s the game that should tell us. It's too difficult even for the officials to follow and track the runs of these players because I cannot always blame the officials," he added.

“The game itself has become too dynamic, and it demands we respond to that. We’re not playing for R500 000 here; we’re playing for R20 million, so we should be considering looking into this thing of VAR; otherwise, we will keep losing matches like this, and people will be ok with it."

As calls to introduce the video refereeing system grow louder, the debate remains: which type of VAR will be suited for PSL?

Senior advisor to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, Charles Cilliers, recently explained why the public internet version of the VAR is best for the country's top flight.

"This was a trip that came up spontaneously. We heard about Daniel Bennett and his team, and then we met with him. We were here in April with the director general and the CFO of the department; the minister was here, and we were lucky enough to actually see some of the facilities," Cilliers said. 

"It's expanded since then, and we are very excited since it's the second wave of VAR; it's a new kind of technology, and it's working off the cellphone networks, public internet basically.

"It's going to work very well for us in South Africa if we can go with this option right now. Daniel and his team are looking at the different possibilities, but we're looking for what can be the fastest, the cheapest, and the most sustainable for us so that we don't have to invest too much in our infrastructure and we can get this thing up and running in the shortest amount of time."

However, Premier Soccer League chairman Irvin Khoza has raised issues that they want resolved before full VAR implementation in the league.

"Where we are as a league, it is difficult to make a contribution to this meeting," Khoza expressed the concerns. 

"The money has been made available to implement VAR, but at this point, there are two bits of outstanding information we have not received yet, so that's why we won't be able to add value to this meeting."

As long as teams and coaches feel dissatisfied, the need to have the VAR in the PSL becomes a matter of top priority.