With the country baying for blood, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos put his name on the line to take responsibility for the 2026 Fifa World Cup points debacle.
There was unhappiness in the country when Fifa docked Bafana’s three points for fielding ineligible Teboho Mokoena in the qualifying win over Lesotho.
Points deduction has negatively affected South Africa’s chances to qualify for the global showpiece in the US, Mexico and Canada, and Broos said the blame must be put on himself, Mokoena and the SA Football Association (Safa).
As he took responsibility, Broos pleaded with the public to put the matter to rest and back players he has chosen for the last two rounds of qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda next week.
It was commendable for Broos to take leadership for the fiasco, albeit belatedly, but the public wants accountability for the situation threatening Bafana’s qualification at the tournament.
Bafana’s fate is not in their hands going into the last two rounds of qualifiers and they must beat Zimbabwe at Moses Mabhida Stadium next Friday and Rwanda in Mbombela a few days later.
The public is expected to accept Broos’s gesture of taking full responsibility for the mess, but they ar going to demand consequences.
When he announced the squad for the matches against Zimbabwe and Rwanda on Thursday, the Belgian mentor promised the mistake won’t happen again.
“We have to make notes for every game, that’s all,” he said with a smile. “We didn’t do it [against Lesotho in Polokwane]. Even the player himself didn’t remember he had a yellow card in November 2023. I think you have to understand it can happen.
“It was a big mistake from all of us, but it will never happen again. You can see Siyabonga Ngezana is not in the squad for the camp because he is suspended.
“This is a good lesson for everyone and we have 25 people at Safa House with lists to check yellow cards — even myself, I have a list. Let’s hope with the deduction of three points we don’t miss the tournament in America.”
Though he accepted the mistake, Broos questioned why Fifa took so long to make the decision.
“I didn’t expect it because the committee of sanctions sat three times between the period of the Lesotho game and two weeks ago, and on those occasions South Africa was not mentioned.
“One day after the last meeting, we received the letter from Fifa that the case has been reopened. Very strange — it means there has been a lot of lobbying behind the scenes. How can you have three meetings of the committee of sanctions and never talk about South Africa and suddenly there is a letter from Fifa?
“It has happened. It is not good for us but we know we did something that was not allowed and we are being punished.
“Something surprising is that people started to doubt that we can qualify. They are sure Benin will win two matches and this is ridiculous — they play in Nigeria and Rwanda. If they win two times, congratulations to them — but I don’t think it will happen.
“If we win our two matches, there is a big chance we will qualify. The only thing we have to do is focus on the games and leave all the rubbish that is no longer important.
“Punishment is there and we have to move on to get two victories.”
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