After waiting so long to smell the possibility of making a World Cup, the last thing Bafana Bafana need is a stained campaign, a tarnished qualifying process which can be seen as undeserved in some quarters.
It is for this reason that Fifa’s delay in making a ruling or even releasing a simple statement on the Teboho Mokoena saga should not be treated as a cause for celebration. Rather, we should be loudly calling for the world governing body to be more forthcoming and not be seen as protecting our ineptitude in fielding Mokoena when he was suspended against Lesotho back in March.
We have already admitted to the error, and precedence dictates that we be punished and stripped of three points, even without Lesotho fulfilling requirements for a valid protest.
Six months later, we have yet to hear anything from Fifa, leaving a giant vacuum to be filled with innuendo, inaccuracies and conspiracies.
The truth is Bafana should qualify for next year’s World Cup, even after losing the three points we gained when we fielded a defaulter, Mokoena, back in that March match in Polokwane.
We have two fixtures against winless Zimbabwe and second-place hopefuls Rwanda next month and having seen Hugo Broos’s team mature so immensely of late, you can bet on them to return with six points from those games.
That would render the growing protests around Mokoena’s two yellow cards largely irrelevant. You cannot fault our opponents for harping on about this matter because it has a direct impact on the group. Benin’s coach, Gernot Rohr, was the latest this week to call on Fifa to act after his team moved to within three points of Bafana, aware a deduction would mean his side and SA are tied on 14 points at the top.
Nigeria also made noise prior to their draw with Bafana in Bloemfontein this week, while Lesotho took their threats even further, promising to play under protest. Rwanda have also grumbled about the issue. All this could have been avoided had Fifa made a firm decision already.
It’s just strange how Fifa is blue-ticking this issue, perhaps hoping qualifying would conclude and that it would be forgotten. But no, it’s not going away. It’s becoming a topic in every press conference involving Bafana. Opposition coaches are raising it consistently. It’s simply not going away. It will linger for some time.
But all this smearing and insinuation of bias is grossly unfair on Bafana, who’ve deservedly shot to the top of the group on the back of an outstanding qualifying campaign. They are unbeaten in home matches under Broos and have shown the bronze medal won at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations was no fluke.
A first World Cup appearance as qualifiers since 2002 is beckoning and it’s something worth celebrating. I recall how the streets were jampacked in 1997 after Phil Masinga’s goal at FNB Stadium against Congo sent Bafana to their first World Cup in France in 1998.
When we qualify again next month, which would be our fourth World Cup after also hosting in 2010, we should similarly fill the streets with jubilation. We’ve waited for too long, surviving rule bungling, administrative incompetence and a general apathy from fans. But there’s now positivity around Bafana, and they don’t need anyone’s helping hand – not even Fifa’s – to get them over the line.
Their spot among the 48 teams who will be in North America next year is meritorious, and just to prove how strong they are now, they can still be among them even if stripped of the points they gained illegitimately.
SowetanLIVE
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