South Africa are ready to find if they are going to be sanctioned for fielding an ineligible participant of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over Lesotho final Friday.
Bafana Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena ought to have served a one-match ban after choosing up yellow playing cards towards Benin and Zimbabwe earlier within the marketing campaign.
As a substitute the 28-year-old helped his facet to a 2-0 win in Polokwane, and Lesotho have submitted a question to world governing physique FIFA concerning the incident.
“We hope for them to respect their very own rules and act appropriately,” Lesotho Soccer Affiliation secretary normal Mokhosi Mohapi informed BBC Sport Africa.
“Even when they simply warning South Africa, it will likely be okay. If they offer us the factors, so be it. [It would be] the cherry on high.
“There’s no malice but it surely’s simply that we’re searching for the rules to be adhered to. If it had been us who had defeated South Africa, wouldn’t they do the identical?”
The South African Soccer Affiliation declined to remark when contacted by BBC Sport Africa.
Mokoena was withdrawn from the squad to face Benin in Tuesday’s qualifier and, after the 2-0 win that took his facet 5 factors clear on the high of Group C, nationwide crew coach Hugo Broos stated the matter is “one thing that will likely be sorted over the subsequent week”.
FIFA’s competitors rules state that any protest about participant eligibility needs to be lodged inside 24 hours of the top of a match.
Ought to South Africa be punished with a factors deduction, their hopes of showing on the World Cup for the primary time since internet hosting the match in 2010 will likely be again within the stability.
As a substitute of the 2-0 win for Bafana Bafana, Lesotho may very well be awarded a 3-0 technical victory that will transfer them as much as second within the desk and one level behind South Africa.
It might additionally increase Nigeria’s probabilities of qualification, given the Tremendous Eagles sit six factors adrift of high spot with 4 rounds of fixtures remaining after drawing 1-1 with Zimbabwe.
Solely the group winners are assured of a spot at subsequent 12 months’s 48-team match in the US, Mexico and Canada.-BBC
