Bafana Bafana’s date with Senegal in doubt
Burkina Faso seeks support from SA and Cape Verde to challenge Fifa ruling
Bafana Bafana’s already precarious bid to qualify for next year’s World Cup has been thrown into more turmoil by Burkina Faso’s challenge of Fifa’s recent ruling that SA replay their game against Senegal.
Safa president Danny Jordaan, speaking to Sowetan on his arrival in Spain for a weeklong visit to cement a partnership with La Liga, conceded he was no longer certain if the match would be replayed as ordered by the world football governing body.
In the wake of revelations that last November’s tie between Bafana and the Lions of Teranga had been manipulated by referee Joseph Lamptey, Fifa ruled that it be replayed next month, leaving Bafana bottom of Group D.
“We are not sure what’s going to happen now because Burkina Faso have asked us and Cape Verde [the other team in the group] to support their appeal to CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport],” Jordaan said.
“We have already made it clear that we are prepared to replay, but what if the court finds in Burkina’s favour? The referee is also appealing [against his life ban]. We sent lawyer Norman Arendse to Zurich to speak to Fifa and are still awaiting his report.”
All these legalities could prove irrelevant to SA if Bafana fail to beat Burkina Faso at FNB Stadium on Saturday (3pm). Winless, with just a point from three games, Stuart Baxter’s team would be out of the race to Russia with any result other than a win.
It could all have been different had they not lost their back-to-back ties against Cape Verde last month. Jordaan conceded the performance was “one of Bafana’s worst in history”, and it remains to be seen if Saturday’s clash will draw a decent crowd given the nation’s despondency.
“We decided to take the match to FNB thinking we would have done well against Cape Verde. You get four points from them, we would be on 10 points [including the now annulled three from the Senegal match]. We would be needing one win against Burkina Faso to qualify, and it made sense that we take the match to a venue that would draw 80 000 people,” Jordaan reasoned.
How things have changed, with Bafana rooted at the bottom and hopes indirectly hinging on Burkina Faso’s appeal succeeding
‘‘ We are prepared to replay, but what if the court finds in Burkina’s favour?