The South African Football Association (SAFA) says the Senegal replay for Bafana Bafana should set the precedent for their appeal against Ghana for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
In 2017 Fifa ordered the World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal be replayed after referee Joseph Lamptey awarded a penalty for a nonexistent handball and was banned for life for match manipulation.
Bafana won the game 2-1 but ended up losing to replay against the Teranga Lions who eventually qualified for the 2018 showpiece in France.
SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe, who confirmed an official appeal has been made to the world football governing boy and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) feels there are similarities between the incident that has ‘destroyed’ the squad.
“We are looking at the precedent FIFA set by ordering us to replay Senegal and we think if justice needs to be served, the same decision needs to be taken against this Ghana game,” he said before their return to South Africa.
He went on to praise the efforts of Hugo Broos and his new-look squad for the campaign and urged supporters to rally behind them while they look to take care of the administrative issues.
“We’d like to salute the technical team and players for a job well done, they have represented the country with distinction. When I say that it’s the travelling experience has not been the best,” he added.
“The efforts they’ve given on the field of play represent players who were determined to die on the field of play and of course they could not have done that without the guidance of the technical team.
“I will just plead with the nation to continue supporting the team while we challenge these decisions – whatever decision we get, this is the team that needs support. As the association, we commit to supporting the entire technical team together with the players.”
SAFA will host an official press conference on Wednesday to further address the issue as they travel back from Ghana today.
