Safa to launch protest at CAF and FIFA for a replay of Ghana versus South Africa

The South Africa Football Association is set to launch a protest at both the Confederation of African Football and FIFA for a replay of the match between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Bafana Bafana which ended in a one-nil win for the Black Stars yesterday at the Cape Coast Stadium.

This comes after what was a shock defeat in a controversial manner for the southern Africans after the Senegalese referee handed Ghana a penalty in the 31st minute of the game after defender Daniel Amartey went to the ground following what looks like a minimal contact from his opposite number Rushine de Reuck.

Andre Ayew converted the resulting penalty to hand Ghana the lead that ultimately stood out as the goal that would see the Black Stars through to the final qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, knocking the Bafana Bafana off the summit of the table by goals scored after the two sides tallied an equal number of points and goal difference.

“We will be writing to both [Confederation of African Football] Caf and Fifa – firstly to investigate how the game was handled and secondly to challenge some of these decisions,” Safa CEO Tebogo Monthlante stated on Monday.

He added, “As we did last night, we have already registered with the match commissioner that we will be making a formal complaint”.

“We are very disheartened by their actions and we can’t let it destroy the players – when we have the chance to challenge, we will challenge,” Monthlante continued.

“We feel very much robbed because it is not an isolated incident of a penalty. There are just a lot of questionable decisions by match officials and we will get an expert to dissect other incidents, so we can make a strong case,” the Safa CEO noted.

Previous Incidents

South Africa is not new to such replay decisions, having been victims of one such order from FIFA ahead of the 2018 World Cup which they eventually missed thanks to a replay decision that Senegal took advantage of and sailed through at the expense of the Bafana Bafana.

In that match, Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey on November 12, 2016, at the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane made questionable refereeing decisions that had a huge impact on the match. South Africa won 2-1 in that match with one of the goals coming from a penalty decision by the referee where Kaliduo Koulibaly was adjudged to have handled the ball though replays showed the ball had hit his knee.

The restaged match was played during the November 2017 international break and the Teranga Lions won two-nil to later seal qualification to the global tournament, dumping South Africa out in the process.

Referee Joseph Lamptey was handed a 3-month ban by CAF for awarding a penalty for “non-existent handball” before FIFA later handed a lifetime ban to the Ghanaian.

FIFA at the time explained that the replay of the match was necessitated after the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS had confirmed “the lifetime ban of match referee, Joseph Lamptey, for match manipulation, the ruling imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary and Appeal Committees”.

South Africa who lost out due to that decision is hoping the wheels of justice turn in their favour this time around having witnessed what was a ‘night of injustice’ in the former colonial capital of Ghana on Thursday.

By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com