Cruz Azul’s Hugo Pavone, above right, celebrates a goal against Western Sydney. Source: AP

Covic described the refereeing in yesterday morning’s 3-1 extra-time loss to Mexico’s Cruz Azul in Rabat as one of the most unbelievable things he’d ever seen and said the match should never have gone ahead in near-unplayable conditions on a waterlogged pitch.

“We know that basically this game was taken out of our hands,” Covic said. “Pretty much there was nothing we could have done.

“As pissed off as I am, I probably have to just go home and laugh because something like that will never happen again.”

The Wanderers finished the match with nine men after defenders Matthew Spiranovic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley saw red, the latter in bizarre circumstances after a first yellow card was wrongly attributed to him by referee Noumandiez Doue.

Topor-Stanley had no knowledge of being shown a first yellow but it later emerged Doue had mistakenly attributed one to him instead of teammate Seyi Adeleke in the 53rd minute.

“I had no knowledge of that (the first yellow),” Topor-Stanley said. “The referee didn’t tell me. Had I known, I’d have altered my decision making. Clearly I thought that was my first yellow. I’m speechless, really.

“I thought I’d seen it all but this is another reminder that football is unpredictable at the best of times.”

Covic was also furious that a Topor-Stanley goal was disallowed and striker Nikita Rukavystya was denied what looked a clear penalty before Cruz Azul equalised in the 88th minute to send the match into extra time.

“It (the refereeing) is a case of an absolute disaster,” Covic said.

“There was absolutely nothing out there that was right on their behalf.

“It was an embarrassment.

“This is a FIFA Club World Cup and god knows where they got them from because that was the most unbelievable thing I’ve seen in football at a professional level.”

The 39-year-old gloveman said he couldn’t remember playing in worse conditions as monsoon-like rain before and during the match wreaked havoc on a pitch that was already sub-standard.

“You just can’t play football in that,” he said. “You could put Real Madrid on there and they wouldn’t be able to play football.

“It’s just ridiculous that a game goes ahead, even once you start and you see that you can’t play. The whole game was a farce. ‘’

The Wanderers must now pick themselves up for another game on Wednesday, a fifth-placed play-off against Algerian side ES Setif.

“Unfortunately we’ve got two key players suspended now but we pick ourselves up, we move forward,” Covic said.

More rain is forecast over the next two days and the Mexican side’s captain Gerardo Torrado admits he has concerns about the fixture against Real Madrid.

“Hopefully they have the ability to make it recover but we have to be realistic, there is very little time,” Torrado said.

Wanderers centre back Matthew Spiranovic asked what would have happened had the tournament favourites been involved. “It’s questionable whether, if Real Madrid were playing tonight, the game would have continued,” he said. “It was the same for both teams but I don’t think I’ve played in conditions as bad as that in my whole career. It was dangerous.”

Defender Shannon Cole said it was the “easiest thing for FIFA” to let the game go on. “(These) get called off all the time,” he said.

Reports suggest Real Madrid will be escorted by as many as 40 security guards, including five dedicated to the world’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo.

AAP