Semenyo calls on the Ghana national team to put more pressure on the referees

Manchester City and Ghana striker Antoine Semenyo has called on his teammates to put more pressure on referees. The reason was the lack of checks of the VAR system in the match against the England team, which took place on Tuesday in Foxborough. Ghana managed to neutralize Thomas Tuchel's team and collect four points, finding themselves one step closer to the play-offs. However, the Black Stars camp is convinced that they would have won if the referee had turned to video assistants. Ahead of Sunday's Group I final against Croatia in Philadelphia, Semenho stressed the need to be more aggressive and assertive on the pitch. The Ghanaians were most outraged by an episode late in the game when England defender Ezri Konsa appeared to bring down Prince Kwabena Ada in the penalty area. In addition, a suspicious foul by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford at the beginning of the meeting was ignored. Referee Said Martinez never initiated a review of these moments. "I was right next to Konsa's tackle on Kwabeni Adu and I put my hands up first. It's a shame they haven't checked it yet. We talked about it in training: as players we have to gather around the referee and complain, we have to say something. As a team, we need to be more aggressive with the referees, stay on the field longer while our coaches pester the fourth official. This is what we need to do," said Semenyo. The head coach of the Ghana national team, Carlos Queiroz, joked after the match that VAR had gone for coffee. The 73-year-old expert has already criticized refereeing after a similar incident in the match against Panama and is now demanding decisive action from FIFA. "This matter should be in the hands of FIFA. VAR was born in 2016 and was first used at the 2018 World Cup. It has been 10 years and there is no excuse that VAR has not become better. It is time for FIFA management to review what is happening behind the scenes. We hope that the situation will improve in the next few years," Queiroz said. The coach also explained the passivity of his players in the key episode by the fact that they already had yellow cards and were simply afraid of being sent off for excessive protests. Despite the scandals, Ghana is in a great tournament position. A win over Panama in the first round and a draw with England moved them closer to the play-offs for the first time since 2010. The schedules before the last tour for the Black Stars look like this: Group win: Possible if they win against Croatia and England drop points against Panama. If both leaders win, Ghana could go first on the back of a better goal difference. Third-place finish: Even if they lose to the Croatians, the four points they get are likely to be enough to advance to the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams in their groups.