SOUTH Africa’s Manager, Hugo Broos, is still confident that Bafana Bafana will make the 2026 World Cup from Group C despite the threat of a FIFA three-point sanction hanging over his team.
South Africa leads Group C with 13 points with Rwanda and the Benin Republic on eight points each, while Nigeria, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe are on seven, six, and four points respectively.
Nigeria must win its remaining matches in the group to retain hopes of overtaking the South Africans, who host the Super Eagles on September 8.
That game in Pretoria would have been seen as inconsequential if the FIFA three-point threat was not hanging on the Bafana Bafana’s neck. But it could turn out to be the group’s decider.
South Africa fielded an ineligible player, Teboho Mokwena, in their game against Lesotho in March, which they won 2-0 and the consequence is that if FIFA goes by the rules, the game would be awarded to Lesotho with three points deducted from Bafana Bafana tally.
This scenario would alter the Group C outlook, as it would mean only two points would separate South Africa from Rwanda and the Benin Republic, as well as Nigeria, going into the last two sets of games.
Although Lesotho failed to file a complaint over the use of the ineligible player within 24 hours as stipulated by the rules, FIFA can still decide on that whether or not a team protests.
There are past examples of FIFA doing exactly that, including when it docked three points from Nigeria during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The Super Eagles had fielded defender Shehu Abdullahi during a 1-1 draw with Algeria, even though he had collected two yellow cards from previous matches. The result was overturned and the Algerians were awarded a 3-0 victory for the oversight. Algeria did not protest.
But Broos is not worried by what becomes of the South African blunder. Rather, he is buoyed by the emergence of new stars ready for selection.
Broos used the recent international window to look at fresh players ahead of the return of the World Cup qualifiers.
South Africa drew goalless with Tanzania and defeated Mozambique 2-0 victory with some of the new players making their case for permanent positions in the team.
According to reports from South Africa, Broos was without Mamelodi Sundowns’ players, who are heading to the FIFA Club World Cup, while some other stars were allowed to rest after a hectic season.
Speaking on the new stars, Broos said: “Everything is positive about the past few days. This is something that will make my job very difficult in the next few months when you see that we have 23 players (who played in this window). You know that there are still maybe another 23 who are with their clubs or who are at home. So that means we can now choose between 40 players.
“This will be difficult because you have to drop players in September (for the World Cup qualifiers), players who maybe deserved it. But I have to make choices, but this also means players will be more motivated because they know that there are guys behind them, who are waiting to take their places.
South Africa will next assemble in September for World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and the potential ticket decider against Nigeria.