Referee Joshua Bondo of Botswana took centre stage with two calamitous calls at the COSAFA Castle Cup on Wednesday as Zimbabwe were denied a chance to take command of Group B and put a firm foot into the last eight of the tournament.
They had two legitimate-looking penalties turned down in the final five minutes of their goalless draw with Madagascar at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace, which leaves the outcome of the group still up in the air, muddied even further by Mozambique beating the Seychelles 2-1 in the day's other match.
With only the group winner advancing to the quarterfinal against Swaziland on Sunday, the controversial calls could come back to haunt the Zimbabweans. After a shower of goals in their opening game, they will be disappointed with a poor game, characterised by an ineffective long-ball approach.
However, they still have the advantage going into Friday's last series of group games as they have a superior goal difference to Madagascar with both teams on four points.
Zimbabwe have the Seychelles as their last opponents, while Madagascar must conjure up a goal fest to overcome when they take on Mozambique, who picked up their first points of the competition.
"I must congratulate my players because we did well against a very physical team. We created chances and stayed right in the game. It was not easy. We expected a really tough game and so it proved," said the Malagasy coach Auguste Raux.
He wasn't the only one who felt Raphael Manuvire and Ovidy Karuru dived as they hacked down the Zimbabwean attacker in the penalty area in the 85th and 87th minutes.
Mozambique's win came against the odds given their weakness of their team, but they took their chances at set pieces with first captain Stelio and then Joao Simango scoring.
In between, Rodney Melanie netted for the Seychelles, who are now out of the running.
"I'm very disappointed because of the way we conceded the goals," Seychelles coach Rodney Choisy began. "Mozambique have the smallest players on the field and to score on set plays is not acceptable."