KUALA LUMPUR: Although it was only a friendly, the standard of officiating during Malaysia’s clash against China in Guangdong on Saturday has drawn fierce backlash from local football fans.
Supporters took to social media in droves to vent their frustration over several contentious decisions by South Korean referee Ko Hyung Jin, with some alleging that his calls favoured the hosts.
Among the major talking points were Hyung Jin’s failure to award penalties for fouls on Dion Cools and Ramadhan Saifullah inside the box at the Zhaoqing New District Sports Centre Stadium.
In the 77th minute, forward Fergus Tierney thought he had reduced the deficit when Harimau Malaya were trailing 2-0, only for his effort to be ruled out following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review.
Tierney was adjudged offside despite replays appearing to show a Chinese player getting the final touch before the ball fell to the Malaysian forward.
The decision sparked confusion online, with fans questioning why the goal was disallowed given the Chinese defender’s involvement in the build-up.
Threads user eriqmokhtar questioned whether the referee had got the major decisions right.
“There are really so many questionable decisions. Are all of his calls actually right, or am I just not good at watching football? Two penalties, and that offside goal seemed weird,” he wrote.
Another user, eddy_ruzaidi, criticised Hyung Jin for turning a blind eye to rough play by the home defenders.
“Chinese defenders were pushing and pulling Malaysian players’ shirts, and he just ignored them. It really ruined the tempo of the game,” read the post.
From an officiating standpoint, however, the goal could still have been disallowed if the Chinese player’s touch was deemed a deflection rather than a deliberate play of the ball, which would not reset the offside phase.
Hyung Jin had also been involved in an early VAR intervention in the second minute when he initially awarded China a penalty after Ryan Lambert was judged to have fouled an opponent, only to overturn the decision following a review.
Saturday’s match was not the first time the South Korean official had overseen a fixture involving Harimau Malaya.
He had officiated Malaysia’s FIFA Asean Cup match against Indonesia, where he drew heavy criticism from Garuda supporters after sending off an Indonesian player and disallowing one of their goals.
Hyung Jin also took charge of Malaysia’s third-place playoff against Vietnam in the same tournament, a match that passed without any officiating controversy.
Malaysia lost 2-0 to China and will look to bounce back when they face world No. 144 Yemen in their second friendly at the same venue on Tuesday.