AFCON 2015: Ghana coach Avram Grant braced for likely unfair officiating in semis clash

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Image caption Avram Grant, coach of Ghana during of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations match between Ghana and Senegal at Mongomo Stadium, Equatorial Guinea on 23 January 2015 Pic Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

Ghana coach Avram Grants insists he is not bothered by the possibility of his side getting robbed by match officials in the 2015 AFCON semi final clash against Equatorial Guinea.

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The Black Stars come up against the tournament hosts on Thursday to slug it out for a place in Sunday’s grand finale in Bata.

Equatorial Guinea profited immensely from a huge refereeing mistake in their quarter final game against Tunisia.

A late penalty awarded was awarded for the Nzalang Nacional to drew level against the North Africans.

Equatorial Guinea eventually won the game in extra time to record their first ever qualification to the semi finals in any major competition.

There is a growing conspiracy theory that CAF is aiding the progress of Equatorial Guinea in the competition through the use of match officials as a thank you for saving the tournament with their last-gasp decision to host it after the withdrawal of Morocco.

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Fears are even heightened that the Black Stars stand to suffer more from this perception but coach Avram Grant says he is not bothered by this possibility – trusting that the right thing will be done on Thursday.

“Look, this thing I cannot control. If the referee will do one or two, three [mistakes] I cannot control,” he said.

“I can control only about our performance. I want to believe that everything outside the pitch is good.

“I think the referees until now from what I have seen – except one or two games – have been good.

“So this is not my issue, I am sure everyone will be watching this and everybody that needs to take care of this will do their job.”