Who fixed the match?
LAMPTEY: SEARCH FOR ANSWERS IN AFTERMATH OF FATEFUL REPLAY RULING Bafana Bafana dealt hammer blow in their already tough task to qualify for World Cup in Russia next year.
In the best tradition of an intriguing “whodunnit”, the most pertinent question to emerge after Fifa this week ruled that the World Cup qualifier in which Bafana Bafana beat favoured Senegal 2-1 would have to be replayed because of referee Joseph Lamptey’s manipulations, is determining who was behind the wayward official’s actions.
Fifa had already imposed a life ban on Lamptey for accepting bribes – a decision now verified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) – and if correct in relation to the Bafana-Senegal encounter, it would seem essential to take the matter a step further and establish who indeed offered the dubious incentive to the referee.
Fifa, however, are renowned for conveniently not pursuing matters to what might be an embarrassing conclusion.
Meanwhile an under-pressure South Africa Football Association (Safa) has been at pains to proclaim that Fifa have in no way implicated them in the matter.
Nevertheless, it would seem to constitute the final nail in the coffin for Bafana’s World Cup qualifying hopes following Fifa’s replay proclamation.
The decree was delivered with the impact of a hammer blow, although not unexpected in view of Lamptey’s ban for what was described by Fifa as”manipulating the outcome of games”.
It means that wooden spoonists Bafana, bottom of Group D of Africa’s World Cup qualifying with one point from three games, will now have to win all three of their remaining matches against the formidable Senegal (twice) and Burkina Faso to have any chance of making it to Russia next year.
And the stark implication of Bafana’s plight is reflected by the fact that two wins and a draw in the three remaining games will not be good enough – and even three unlikely victories might not be sufficient if the results in other matches do not fall neatly into place for South Africa.
Other countries in the world might be suffering from tornados, hurricanes and such-like right now, but in a purely sporting context it would be difficult to find anything quite as devastating as that which is confronting South Africa’s soccer-mad fans after the events of the calamitous past six days.
Topping it all, the replay debacle, resulting from the disgraced Lamptey awarding Bafana an outrageous penalty and two questionable goals, is a blow of knockout proportions.
The reaction from Safa was more sombre, with a release disclosing that an appeal had been considered, but apparently rejected by Fifa, with the case entrusted in the hands of Advocate Norman Arendse SC.