World football governing body is expected to deduct three points and three goals from South Africa in the world cup qualifiers after they fielded an ineligible player in their 2-0 win over Lesotho.
In time past, FIFA have treated such cases with the above mentioned penalty and many expect it to be the same this time around. However some section in South Africa are saying that the absence of a protest by Lesotho could work in their favour.
That isn’t entirely true as FIFA has taken action similar to this same incident without any protest from other countries. That will likely be the case and it has caused unrest in the camp of South Africa as it will largely throw the game open, by narrowing the point gap of their lead to just one point over Lesotho, who will be awarded the points.
Lesotho will move from their current position of 5th in the group to second and a point behind South Africa when FIFA takes the expected decision. But what is worrisome to the FA of the group leaders is that it will bring their point gap over Nigeria to just three.
Many in the FA including top chiefs said the incident was flagged and currently been pushed by Nigeria and not even Lesotho nor the other teams in the group. They are however hopeful that FIFA will for the first time not act as in previous cases.
Ade Emmanuel
