Super Eagles Fume at Referee Daniel Laryea after 'Obviously Biased' Semi-Final Display

Super Angry Eagles: Referee Blamed as Osimhen and Co. Exit AFCON

The Africa Cup of Nations never fails to provide unique drama - over the years, the tournament has given us some of football’s strangest moments, including possibly the worst keeper fumble of all time, referees blowing for full time five minutes early, and even players looking flirtatiously at cameramen.

Last night's semi-final between hosts Morocco and pre-tournament favourites Nigeria was no different, although the ensuing drama was not rooted in goalmouth action, with the game ending 0-0 after 120 minutes.

Instead, upon the full-time whistle, the controversy surrounded Ghanaian referee Daniel Laryea - as soon as the game was over, Nigeria fans launched vicious social media attacks on Laryea, stating that his performance was “obviously biased” in Morocco’s favour.

🇬🇭The Instagram account of Ghanaian referee Daniel Nii Laryea has been taken down following his controversial officiating in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Nigeria and Morocco. pic.twitter.com/JnmkFnsIZm

— DSI_Football (@DSI_Football) January 15, 2026

With many clips of dubious decisions surfacing online, let's have a look and see if there is merit to the Super Eagles' accusations.

Making Ghana Proud

First off, we must talk about Laryea himself. In 2018, the Anas Number 12 exposé revealed that a number of Ghanaian officials had taken part in corruption and match fixing, resulting in fines, lengthy bans, and a tarnished reputation for the country’s officiating.

Refereeing in the Ghanaian League, as well as taking charge of CAF Confederation Cup and Champions League fixtures, Laryea slowly rebuilt confidence in Ghana’s professional officiating scheme and eventually, he was rewarded with one of the highest calibre games his continent has to offer: an AFCON semi-final clash.

It cemented the return of Ghanaian refereeing at the top of the African game, underlining that with hard work, consistency and a little moral compass, the reputation of an entire country can be repaired with time.

Suspect Decisions?

But now, onto the game. The match-up pitched arguably the two biggest sides in Africa, with Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen and co. taking on the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists and tournament hosts Morocco. Morocco were certainly considered favourites prior to kick-off, having conceded just one goal in their previous five games, while also having home advantage.

However, Nigeria are not to be trifled with - boasting one of the best attacking lineups in Africa, the Super Eagles had scored the most goals of any side in the tournament, with 14, and had won every single game in their campaign, unlike Morocco, who had drawn to Mali in the group stage.

Considering the fact that Laryea was being targeted so viciously, it seems remarkable that he only showed two yellow cards throughout the entire match - one to Nigeria and Fulham’s Calvin Bassey in the 33rd minute, and another to his teammate Raphael Onyedika 13 minutes from time.

Nevertheless, the first of these caused uproar within the Nigeria section of the crowd - Brahim Diaz shimmied the ball past the big centre back, and Bassey did his duty of attempting to shield the ball, providing an impassable barrier for the Real Madrid attacker.

However, his arms were spread wide in order to stop the Moroccan, and Diaz saw an opportunity - allowing Bassey’s open hand to slap him lightly on the mouth, the forward went down and made a serious meal of it, resulting in Bassey going into the book.

#NGAMAR #NIGMAR
How and why the hell did that nonsense Ghanaian ref give Bassey a yellow card for this? pic.twitter.com/3QQWSHnbeL

— Normal🫎 (@IkwuegbuFrankl1) January 14, 2026

On X, Nigeria fans immediately took up their pitchforks, and in no uncertain terms, made it clear that it was never a yellow card. Referees need to make tricky decisions in the blink of an eye and will inevitably not see some of the more subtle fouls, but this was a strange decision, one that can only be forgiven if Laryea thought Bassey’s fist had been closed, resembling a punch instead of a hit.

Later on in the game came another strange decision, this time on the touchline closest to the camera. With Nigeria’s Bruno Onyemaechi tussling with Bilal El Khannouss near the Morocco corner flag, Bruno somehow came away with the ball and was given the room to whip a cross towards Osimhen and Okor Adams in the box.

However, the whistle had already gone, with Laryea having blown for a Morocco throw-in. Granted, the ball had rolled along the touchline for a very short moment, but at no point was it close to rolling into the warm-up area, and with no official racing down that side of the pitch, the referee was forced to make a decision of his own.

This killed me man.

The ball was not out, yet so quick to blow his whistle, like he was under pressure.

Lookman was going crazy.
Moroccan players didn’t even know why he blew.

Daniel Laryea, you should never ref a game in your life again😭, a disgracepic.twitter.com/wFg2VtHbjT https://t.co/sxEzyAM4EA

— TobyWrites (@tobyasky) January 15, 2026

Both of these decisions went against Nigeria, and when they were agonisingly knocked out in a penalty shoot-out, the African giants needed to find someone to blame. Predictably, the blame fell on the man in the middle.

Were Nigeria Robbed?

However, did the refereeing performance actually have a hand in knocking Nigeria out of the tournament?

Well, not really. One look at the stats will tell you that Nigeria were second best throughout - Eric Chelle’s side managed just two shots in 120 minutes off competitive football, only one of which found the target.

You could have given them another 120 minutes, and they still would be unlikely to score. To take away even further from the claim that the referee cost them the match, Morocco didn’t score from either decision that could be objectively viewed as dodgy, and it’s not like Nigeria had a goal ruled out either.

Nigerians have attacked referee Daniel Laryea under his post on IG with insults and family attacks.
This is the highest level of stvpid!ty I've ever seen from a country. Do you attack refs who officiate your club's matches? NO.

EMBARRASSING pic.twitter.com/tWzN0ZPgT7

— Nancy (@Nancy_fcb) January 15, 2026

In summary, with all the facts now at hand, it is hard to agree with the claim that Nigeria was robbed of a place in the AFCON final. Bassey’s yellow card was harsh, and the Morocco throw-in shouldn’t have been a Morocco throw in, but in the end, Nigeria were the architects of their own downfall, with their lack of impact in the Morocco half the major factor in their defeat.

When big sides lose, they like to look for conspiracies, something to place blame on other than themselves, and in this situation, the unfortunate Daniel Laryea was the easy fall guy. However, aside from his two eventually insignificant mistakes, he can hold his head high for his performance, and I can see no reason to place blame on him for Nigeria’s defeat.

So sides are just a bunch of bad losers …