Olimpia lose points again because of biased referees

Wilfred Balima's miraclous goal brought a win to Sheriff in the match round of the 6th National Division round. Olimpia keep dropping their positions in the table while Sheiff strengthened their standing thanks to the "excellent" refereeing in the northern capital with Tean at the helm. 

Olimpia's starting 11: Sergiu Pascenco, Jude Ogada, Nicolae Orlovsch, Maxim Hovanschi, Nicolae Mincev (Remezovschi 70), Ibrahima Kamara (Climov 89), Julius Adaramola, Shotaro Okada (Grab 70), Matthew Muthu, Gheorghe Ovseannicov (c), Oluwawunmi Somide (Adjibola 65).

Sheriff's starting 11: Alexandru Zveaghinţev, Vazha Tarkhnishvili (c), Sergiu Gheorghiev (Cheptine 77), Wildred Balima, Marcel Metoua, Florent Rouamba, Ghandi Kassenu, Tommy Abu (Zamaliev 38), Jhonatan da Silva Pereira (Haciaturov 89), Vadim Raţa (Samardzic 46), Luvannor Henrique

Goals: Ovseannicov (26), Gheorghiev (27), Balima (72)

Yellow cards: Kamara, Ogada, Henrique, Tarkhinishvili, Abu, Cheptine, Balima

Red card: Ogada 

Main referee: Alexandru Tean

Assistants: Anatol Bodean and Vitalie Gorbatov

Sheriff have prepared for the match against their most difficult opponents in time. Sheriff head coach Vitaly Rashkevich pushed the team out of perfect conditions and they played at the central city stadium in Tiraspol for a few days. This is how the Belarusian coach trued to recreate the conditions that expected his team in Bălţi. The field in the northern capital is currently in a good condition though worse than fields at the Sheriff sports complex. 

As expected, the game was fiery and uncompromising. Vitaly Rashkevich mentioned at the post-match press conference that the most important thing was to get the win in the match against Olimpia, even playing pragmatically. Sheriff managed to so it though Sheriff hardly play the football that deserves the top spot in the Moldova Championship. But let's go back to the events of the game. 

Gheorghe Ovseannicov opened the score in the 27th minute after cutting into the penalty area like a hurricane, winning the ball from Zveaghinţev and placing it into an empty net - 1-0. 

However, the hosts did not rejoice for long. Sheriff quickly recovered from the conceded goal and Gheorghiev equalized on a rebound from Pascenco's parry - 1-1. The score line remained untouched until the second half when 

Balima handled the ball to score the second goal. The video shows the gross violation of football rules but the referee did not see that. 

 Though the refereeing was not bad in the first half, something happened to the referees after half-time. Absurd whistles and yelloe cards and a penalty that was not awarded to Olimpia- that's the result of the second half's refereeing. The refereeing crew failed to award a penalty when Olimpia's Nigerian forward was knocked down in the penalty box by the opponents' defenders.  

The game was decided by Balima's goal. The Sheriff African international was going to send a pass to the penalty area but the ball took an unexpected direction and ended up in the far corner of the net. The goal brought the win to the visitors - 1-2. 

Balima added the sixth goal to this season's tally. Sheriff strengthened their standing at the top while Olimpia dropped to 9th spot after 6 rounds. 

There no sense in pointing fingers after the match but the qualification of referees in the Moldovan Championship keeps surprising us in every match. The Championship regualtions allow for launching appeals against referees but the score has been registered and even if the referees are punished, the situation will not change. We have suffered too many losses at the hands the opponents and referees which will make it hard for the team to focus. But we hope that the next game against Dacia will bring the win to the Red-and-Whites.