Nigeria are hoping the punishment meted out to them for fielding an ineligible player in a World Cup qualifier will now be extended to Bafana Bafana.
This follows a bombshell piece of information that surfaced in the aftermath of South Africa's 2-0 win over Lesotho at New Peter Mokaba Stadium last Friday.
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Reports coming out of Nigeria and Lesotho, filtering through to Mzansi on Tuesday indicate that Bafana could be in trouble with FIFA after fielding an ineligible player against Lesotho, in Teboho Mokoena, who had received yellow cards in two prior matches of the ongoing World Cup qualifying campaign. The first was in the November 2023 opener against Benin, a 2-1 win, while the second came in a 3-1 victory against Zimbabwe in the Free State.
According to FIFA rules pertaining to World Cup qualifiers, a player is ineligible to play a subsequent match after being cautioned twice.
Further media reports, however, have it that Bafana have a get-out-of-jail ticket in that any such indiscretion needs to be reported to world football's mother body within 24 hours of the end of the match in question.
The Super Eagles are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of Mzansi being stripped of three points as the West Africans sit six points adrift Hugo Broos' men after six matches played. This, after drawing 1-1 against Zimbabwe at home on Tuesday, while Bafana registered an impressive 2-0 win over Benin on the same day.
In 2017, Nigeria got a harsh lesson after fielding an ineligible player, Abdullahi Shehu, in a World Cup qualifier against Algeria. He had picked up yellow cards in two matches prior. The game that originally ended 1-1 was overturned to a 3-0 win for the North Africans. They were also slapped with a CHF 6000 (R124 000) fine.
However, this mattered little in the bigger scheme of things as the Super Eagles had already qualified for the Russia showpiece.
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It remains to be seen how Mokoena's saga will pan out with Lesotho said to have submitted a complaint to FIFA, though it has not yet been established whether they did that within the acceptable time frame.
The Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder was missing from the matchday squad against Benin, with Bathusi Aubaas and Thalente Mbatha starting in central midfield.