World Cup

Yaya Toure: 'African teams unfairly treated at World Cup'

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 02 July 2014

Ivory Coast star Yaya Toure claims that nobody cares about the "injustices" and "scandals" that have hampered African teams at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has claimed that nobody cares about the "injustices" that have hampered African teams at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Toure's Ivory Coast were denied progress to the knockout stages of a finals for the first time when Georgios Samaras netted a stoppage-time penalty for Greece in their last Group C game.

The 31-year-old believes that the decision which led to that spot kick was only one of several which went against Ivory Coast throughout the tournament, but feels that these "scandals" do not bother anyone because of Africa's stature in the world game.

"I desperately wanted the referee to spot the simulation of Samaras," Toure told France Football.

"Once again, the refereeing was not on our side. We had at least two penalties turned down during our game against Japan. This time, one is invented against Greece.

"Of course, it does not upset anyone because it only concerns an African team. Who really cares about the injustices of an African team? This mistake deprives us of something huge. It is a scandal that unfortunately does not seem to bother many people."

Algeria and Nigeria were the only African teams that qualified for the last 16 of the 2014 tournament.