Gambian referee Bakary Papa Gassama will be the man in the middle when the Super Eagles of Nigeria take on the Desert Foxes of Algeria in their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations semifinal fixture at the Cairo International Stadium, Completesports.com reports.
Gassama will be assisted by Senegalese referee El Hadji Malick Samba and Seydou Tiama from Burkina Faso, while South Africa’s Victor Gomes will be the fourth official.
It will be second time the 40-year-old will officiate a game involving the Super Eagles at AFCON 2019.
Gassama was the centre-referee when the Super Eagles lost 2-0 to the Barea of Madagascar in their third Group B match.
The Super Eagles have not won any of their last three matches handled by the Gambian.
He was however in charge when the Super Eagles defeated Algeria 3-1 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture in November 2016 at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium, Uyo.
Dutchman Pol van Boekel will head the VAR panel, and will be assisted by Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe who was also on the panel in the Nigeria versus South Africa game and South Africa’s Zakhele Siwela.
By Adeboye Amosu in Cairo
21 Comments
OK fine but please just blow exactly what you see in the field
And VAR refere assistance should please do the same too
Dominic this ref is a very bias person and has been in the system for ages. He looks innocent but a very bias official very good in making drama happen and weird calls! Anyway God will see eagles through!
This criminal of a referee your days are numbered i hope the guys be aware of this dubious man and take no chance to concede soft foul in sensitive areas coz Gassama who happens to be one of the best 3 refs in Africa as per say is very controversial against Nigeria national teams or club sides.
This guy and Nigerian matches. It reminds of Lee Kim Chong, that Mauritian referee, who officiated the final match of Tunisia 94, where won Nigeria won her second AFCON gold medal.
I’m expecting the same performance from him like he did against the same Algeria in Uyo. Give both teams a level playing ground and allow the better team to emerge. Wishing him all the best.
What the blah is going on here!?
– Ref (the man that officiated our loss to Madagascar and didn’t let SE play)
– Asst Ref (Senegalese. Are you kidding me? He’ll prefer Algeria to meet his country in the final)
– 4th Official (South African. Revenge on his mind. Must be smacking his lips)
– VAR Officials (One of them South African!)
I sense sharks everywhere. How are these guys selected? I know my doubts should not hold, but this is just the street guy in me speaking.
Oh boyee!!! I’m 100% with you on this @ Kel
But God help us
Amen! Because this same ref officiated our return leg against South Africa and cancelled two of our goals. But God will shame him tomorrow I’m really praying!
Yes ooo my broda… God will shame him!
Can all of these refs be coincidence? Are there no other refs? I only hope they will be really objective in their decisions and not be looking out for any little mistake to hold onto.
Everything has an expiring date,with or without him @supereagles will fly very high tommorrow,God bless nigeria
There’s an erro somewhere, i mean how can South Africa and Senegales referee be selected to officiate this type of match, even the var technology operator is from South Africa too, something is wrong somewhere…. May God Help Nigeria
To what I saw before the play of the match tomorrow, I saw Nigeria will win the rest of their games. The it’s was shown to me that the coach should studies a well technical back i.e the defence. It later showed to me the rest games will be win. So it’s d
oes not matter whom ref.
Here we go again! At the 1998 world cup in France, a Spanish referee was appointed to the Nigeria vs Denmark round of 16 tie, and foolishly, commentators and “knowledgeable” sports writers raised a lot of dust and advised the then NFA to seek a change of referee from FIFA. We lost 1-4. Let’s allow the man do his job. We are not playing Gambia for heavens sake!
Ah, this Gambian referee Bakary Papa Gassama again? This referee hates Nigeria. Not in this competition but whenever he is in charge of our match, only God can making us scale through.
None of the organizers loved Nigeria. From the referee to others that going to handled the match are not going to favoured us but when God says yes, who can say no? Absolutely nobody.
My advice to Super Eagles, they should be cautious from start of the match to the finish. That not meant that they shouldn’t play their game.
No shaking. God is in control In sha Allah, we are winning. God bless Nigeria!!!
This match is a win match for us whether the referee is from Gambia or Togo……
Chai! BAD LUCK EVERYWHERE!! GOD PLEASE HELP NIGERIA TOMORROW
Why Gassama!! Why Gassama!! why??
This Gassama has never been a friend of Nigeria at all. He officiated the match against Algeria(Away leg) in the World Cup qualifiers and gave Algeria a dubious Penalty to draw them level. Same thing against Cameroun Away leg(This same Gassama). Against South Africa too, he officiated and cancelled out Two Clear goals.
Whenever CAF are trying to play there dirty acts, he is always the man called upon. The CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS Come to mind.
Gassama aside, look at the Host of enemies right from the Assistant referees till the VAR referees assembled against us.
To Crown it all, the Super Eagles will be matching out in that Jinxed ALL-GREEN Jersey tomorrow!! The BAD LUCK JERSEY. Please no one should mistake the Jersey with the one we used in the World Cup qualifiers and against Argentina friendly cuz they are clearly different. This JINXED jersey we are talking about is the one made before the World Cup as an alternative to the Feathery Green and White one.
Only God can help us tomorrow.
I believe in Super Eagles and in Coach GR. All the best
Every jinx working against the Super Eagles shall be broken by God’s grace. Amen.
I don’t care if the referee is from Gambia or Aibmag, or we are wearing the so called jinxed dark green jersey, or light green jersey or even a darker green jersey, we are winning this game.
I like it,when fear hit Nigerians like this, that is the only time we seems to get on our kneels and be serious to achieve result, the match vs Cameroon and vs South Africa comes to mind, and even the Ebola incident can not be ruled out.
With all the goliath and walls of Jericho mentioned above Nigeria will still triumph.
I think all Nigerians including Pinnick should put this stupid referee on the spot now, giving us this Gassama of a man looks suspicious to me.This bias referee is always good in awarding penalties against Nigeria. Our players should please avoid unnecessary contacts inside the box
Ndidi Ndidi Ndidi, pls no silly fouls. The Algiers are very tricky, fast, plus they are the biggest whinny team in this competition, our players must be very careful in this match, because this whinny Algiers have an ally in Gassama to do their conning bidding for them.Deny them spaces in the middle track back to help the midfielders,they would lose their cools that’s how we going to defeat them. The Algiers plays with emotions and angers we should frustrate them by denying them spaces. Chukwueze and Simon will continue to be our jokers in this competition as predicted.