South Africa’s 2018 Fifa World Cup chances were dealt another hammer blow on Wednesday as the world footballing body confirmed that Bafana Bafana’s Group D qualifying win at home to Senegal last November would have to be replayed.
“The Bureau for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers ordered a replay of the qualification match between South Africa and Senegal held on 12 November 2016. This decision follows the confirmation of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to uphold the lifetime ban of match referee, Jospeh Lamptey, for match manipulation, the ruling imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary and Appeal Committees. The match will be replayed within the November 2017 international window, with the exact date to be confirmed in due course,” read a Fifa statement.
“As stated in the FIFA World Cup regulations, this decision shall come into effect immediately but shall be subject to confirmation by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions at its next meeting, scheduled for 14 September.”
Bafana won 2-1 against Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, but the game was marred with controversy, as Lamptey awarded the home side a penalty kick for handball, when the ball clearly hit Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly on the leg.
This decision means that South Africa now lose their only victory so far in Group D, and will sit even further adrift at the bottom of the group on one point, heading into their home match with Burkina Faso in October.
South Africa will then play Senegal twice in November, once at home and once in Dakar, to end off their qualifying campaign.
The South African Football Association have suggested that they could challenge Fifa’s decision.
“Safa is studying the contents of the report and will issue a statement on intentions to challenge that decision,” they said in a statement.
“SAFA wishes to also state categorically that it was in no way involved with any wrongdoing related to the actions of the referee, as stated in the FIFA report.
“In the meantime, all issues related to this matter will be handled by Senior Counsel, Mr Norman Arendse.”
Bafana were already reeling after an awful few days that saw them lose twice in qualifying to Cape Verde, 2-1 in Praia last Friday and 2-1 in Durban on Tuesday evening.
It was an awful start on the road to Russia for Stuart Baxter, who took over the side in May this year following Shakes Mashaba’s sacking. And now his task has got even tougher.
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