BAFANA Bafana’s road to Brazil is still alive! Gordon Igesund’s and his players 2014 World Cup campaign was dead and buried on Sunday after their 2-1 loss to Group A winners Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. But world soccer body, Fifa, gave Bafana a lifeline yesterday and halted Ethiopian celebrations by lodging a protest against the group leaders for fielding an ineligible player Minyahile Beyene in the 2-1 win over Botswana last week. Now Ethiopia could be docked three points with Botswana handed a 3-0 win if the Fifa disciplinary committee finds them guilty. Fifa have already handed the same punishment to Burkina Faso, Gabon and Sudan in the same qualifiers for the same offence. The SA Football Association (Safa) chief executive, Dennis Mumble, yesterday said that he was keenly awaiting the final outcome from Fifa. Said Mumble: “We also got the Fifa report and have been alerted but we’ll have to wait for the investigations to be completed. “Yes, we’ll be happy if we get a little further in this competition but let’s leave it for Fifa to decide.” Should Ethiopia be docked three points, they would have 10 points, with Bafana (eight points) in second place and Botswana now carrying seven points ahead of their final fixtures that will be played on 6 September. Bafana would need to beat Botswana at home and hope that Central African Republic (who have three points) beat Ethiopia at home to reach the final qualifying stage that will be played in October, if Fifa rules against Ethiopia.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:17:05 +0000
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