SA FACES FIFA DISCIPLINARY
While many might
have thought he got away with it, FIFA made it clear that Bafana Bafana coach
Hugo Broos’s decision to play a player with a match ban hasn’t gone unnoticed.
The match
in question is the World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Lesotho which
was played in March.
During the game,
midfielder Teboho Mokoena was sent onto the field to play even though he had a
one-match suspension against him.
FIFA
informed the South African Football Association (SAFA) that it has opened
disciplinary proceedings against the organisation for allowing Mokoena to play,
even though he had already received two cautions in the qualifiers.
According
to FIFA’s disciplinary codes, the two cautions meant Mokoena had to sit out the
game with an automatic one-match suspension:
“If a team fields a player who is not eligible to
participate (due to suspension, registration issues, nationality, etc.), the
match is automatically forfeited. The default result is a 3-0 loss, unless the
actual result was even more disadvantageous to the offending team.”
The 3 point defeat means South Africa will be level with Benin
with both teams at the top of Group C.
The FIFA World Cup finals will take place in North America
next June and only the qualifying group winners will go through.
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