Editorial: Not over until Fifa says so

Johannesburg – It is only a matter of time, just over 48 hours to be exact before the tension between South African football and their Ghanaian counterparts over the controversial handling of next year’s Qatar World Cup qualifying match by Senegalese referee Maguett e N’Diaye is resolved by Fifa.

By today, we believe the Ghana Football Association and its president Kurt Okraru would have submitted their replying documents to Fifa, responding to South Africa’s complaint about N’Diaye’s conduct that led to Bafana Bafana losing 1-0 to the Black Stars and consequently being denied a place among the 10 countries contesting the final round to Qatar.

Sport and Fifa in particular as the custodians of football preacher Fair Play, which means teams must win fairly and squarely with no influence or manipulation of the result by the referees.

The utterances and a statement by Okraru are unfortunate and regrettable as they paint a picture of a man trying so hard to hide the truth, a man desperate in his attempts to meddle and influence the Fifa process.

We are not cry babies but it is normal to cry foul when cheated. Fifa is obliged to look into the conduct of the referee as there is a pattern of match-fixing in African football.

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