No points will be deducted from SA for fielding ineligible Teboho Mokena in a Fifa World Cup qualifier against Lesotho.
Well-placed Safa insiders have revealed that world football mother body Fifa never treated the Mokoena saga as a bona fide protest, but a mere complaint, because, Lesotho, failed to follow procedure and tick the boxes in accordance with the rules of the game.
After obliterating Lesotho 3-0 on Friday night, Bafana are on top of Group C in the qualifiers with 16 points after seven matches. They face Nigeria on Tuesday in a match that could seal qualification for the 2026 Fifa World Cup co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.
Lesotho protested after reports emerged that Bafana Bafana had fielded the ineligible Mokoena, who was on two yellow cards, in the match that SA won 2-0 in Polokwane in March.
But the protest was lodged late after Nigeria – in the same group as South Africa and Lesotho – are alleged to have made a big fuss and put pressure on the Mountain Kingdom’s federation to officially submit a protest.
Information reaching Sunday World is that the matter was treated by Fifa as a mere complaint, hence the deafening silence from the usually ultra-responsive body.
Lesotho submitted the protest very late, days after the mandatory 24 hours, and also the payment required to protest was processed late, hence the whole matter was regarded as invalid.
“Anything or any protest outside the time frames in the rules ends up being a mere complaint.
“If Lesotho protested in time, Fifa was going to make a decision. A protest is registered before the game, during the match or 24 hours after the final whistle. Now, everything was outside the time frames, and if it is a mere complaint, Fifa is not obliged to respond or make a decision,” the insider said.
Ahead of Friday night’s match, Lesotho Football Association secretary-general Mokhosi Mohapi had threatened that South Africa risked having points docked if they fielded the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder again.
But Bafana coach Hugo Broos and Safa were not bothered by Mohapi’s threats. Mokoena started the match and dictated play per usual deep in midfield.
“I am not used to commenting or reacting to nonsense, and I will not do it here today,” said Broos before the match.
According to our deep throat, Lesotho was clutching at straws and had no leg to stand on.
“Mokoena served his one-match ban. I am not sure which Fifa rules they are reading, and after Friday’s match, they are not saying anything. They seem to have accepted their fate and their wrong reading of the rules.
“I think we deserved to win the game and that shows that you only win games on the pitch and not off the pitch,” Broos said.
“You know, sometimes you have a bad feeling. I will not go into detail, but what happened in the past days [Lesotho posing threats] is not normal. So, it was so important for us to win the game, and that’s what we did.”
“Now we will see next week when we play against Nigeria. If God is with us, we can maybe qualify already next Tuesday for the World Cup, and that remains our goal,” Broos added.
South Africa scored via Mohau Nkota, Lyle Foster and Oswin Appollis, and they are left with Nigeria on Tuesday, Zimbabwe and Rwanda to finish off their qualifiers.
