World Cup
Fifth-placed Lesotho protests South Africa’s fielding of ineligible players
South African publication, Sowetan Live, has reported that the Lesotho Football Association has confirmed it has sent a query to FIFA over the yellow cards accumulated by Bafana Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
If Lesotho’s prayers are heard, the match will be forfeited by South Africa with three points deducted and three goals conceded.
Should that happen, following the Match Day 6 results, South Africa’s point haul will be reduced to 10, but will still retain the top position.
Lesotho in the fifth position, with six points, will jump to the second position with nine points.
Last week, South Africa fielded Mokoena in the match which the hosts won 2-0. The fielding of the player is a breach of the regulations for the World Cup qualifying series.
Nigeria currently at fourth with seven points, will sink to the fifth position, taking the place to be vacated by Lesotho.
Mokoena was not listed by South Africa in their Tuesday’s game with Benin Republic.
Mokoena was booked in Bafana’s opening match against Benin in 2023, and the fourth qualifier against Zimbabwe last year, meaning he should have served an automatic one-match ban, according to FIFA’s rule 63 governing World Cup qualifiers.
“The question is, was a rule broken? If yes, we are fully entitled to protest and get the points.
“We were made aware of Mokoena’s bookings and we have since sent a formal inquiry to CAF and FIFA,” the Lesotho FA secretary-general Mokhosi Mohapi was quoted by South Africa’s Sowetan Live as saying.
Continuing, the publication quoted the Lesotho FA secretary as saying that:
“We have heard that Nigeria also want to protest and they too are entitled to that because the result (last Friday) prejudices everyone.
“Suppose it was us who fielded a defaulter and got the points, Bafana would have done the same.”
Mohapi was further quoted as saying that South Africa could not expect to use proximity to Lesotho as a basis not to file a protest.
“Unfortunately, the law is the law and SAFA (South Africa Football Association) should have known about the bookings. We have no hard feelings. We want those points.”
Mokoena – who was curiously missing from the lineup which faced Benin on Tuesday – was booked on the stroke of halftime in Bafana’s Group C against Benin in November 2023, which ended 2-1 in South Africa’s favour, and again in November 2024 against Zimbabwe, when South Africa won 3-1.
That, according to FIFA rules, meant he should not have been eligible for last week’s match.
The likelihood of Bafana losing the points from last week is high, given previous cases.
In 2013, Botswana protested against Ethiopia for having used a player who had accumulated two bookings in their qualifier. FIFA stepped in and awarded a 3-0 win to Botswana.
On claims that Lesotho should have protested 24 hours after the match, Mohapi stated: “There’s no such. If the protest is valid, FIFA will look into it. We are awaiting their response.”
In 2017, Nigeria’s last World Cup duel with Algeria ended 1-1. Even without any protest by Algeria, FIFA intervened and awarded the match to Algeria on account of Nigeria fielding an ineligible player, Shehu Abdulahi who had had two yellow cards before the match.
According to South Africa’s Sowetan Live, a source close to SAFA blamed “administrative incompetence” for Mokoena taking to the field when he should not have. “The team manager should have notified the coach (Hugo Broos) that Mokoena has two yellows. He was not supposed to play.”
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Algeria, Egypt and Morocco all moved closer to World Cup qualification with home success on Tuesday but South Africa face being docked points after fielding an ineligible player.
South Africa opened up a five-point lead at the top of Group C of the African qualifiers after a 2-0 away win over Benin, while their closest rivals slipped up.
But their victory came only hours after media revelations they could lose the points from last Friday’s home win over Lesotho because they fielded Teboho Mokoena when he should have been suspended after collecting two cautions in earlier qualifying matches.
Midfielder Mokoena was withdrawn from the South Africa side for Tuesday’s victory over Benin in Abidjan amid a stony silence from officials.
“I’m not commenting on the matter, it is something that will be sorted over the next week,” said South Africa coach Hugo Broos.
Previous African qualifying campaigns have seen countries who fielded an ineligible player docked the points from the match.
But with Nigeria giving up a last-gasp equaliser at home to Zimbabwe on Tuesday, South Africa have some wiggle room at the head of their group.
Nigeria led through Victor Osimhen’s 74th-minute diving header in Uyo but English-born substitute Tawanda Chirewa dribbled through the home defence to score a stoppage-time goal that gave plucky Zimbabwe a 1-1 draw.
Nigeria trail South Africa by six points with four matches to play with Benin and Rwanda five behind the leaders. Rwanda were held 1-1 at home by Lesotho on Tuesday.
AMOURA HAT-TRICK
Mohamed Amoura scored a hat-trick as Algeria thrashed their closest rivals Mozambique 5-1 in a key Group G clash in Tizi Ouzou and opened up a three-point lead.
Ahmed Zizo’s goal on the stroke of halftime gave Egypt a 1-0 home win over Sierra Leone in Cairo and a five-point advantage in Group A, while Morocco kept up their 100% record in Group E by beating Tanzania 2-0 in Oudja.
Centre back Nayef Aguerd broke the deadlock early in the second half, quickly followed by a second from the penalty spot converted by Brahim Diaz.
Dailon Livramento scored a double as the tiny Cape Verde Islands stunned Angola 2-1 away and took over at the top of Group D, one point ahead of Cameroon who won 3-1 at home over Libya with two goals from skipper Vincent Aboubakar and one from Bryan Mbeumo.
The Democratic Republic of Congo triumphed 2-0 away in Mauritania where midfielder Charles Pickel scored early and substitute Fiston Mayele added a late second for a victory that put them top of Group B.
They are one point ahead of Senegal, who were 2-0 victors at home over Togo with the opener from Pape Matar Sarr, followed by an own goal.
Africa’s qualifiers will resume in September with two more rounds of matches and conclude in October with another double set of games.
The nine group winners all qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The four best runners-up advance to a playoff which offers the opportunity for one more place at the finals in North America.
-Reuters
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South Africa may have taken a clear break from the field of six teams in Group C of the World Cup qualifying series after beating Benin Republic 2-0 away from home while the Super Eagles were frustrated with a 1-1 draw at home in the duel with Zimbabwe.
Barring the decision of FIFA regarding their fielding of an ineligible player in a matchday 5 duel with Lesotho last week, South Africa have amassed 13 points nearly twice the seven that the Super Eagles have been able to gather.
The Super Eagles were cruising to a 1-0 lead that could have cushioned a second place for them after Victor Osimhen put them ahead in the 74th minute.
Laxity suddenly crept in while they were playing for time. Zimbabwe latched on and scored a 90th-minute goal that tumbled Nigeria from a possible second position to fourth.
Just before Zimbabwe’s Tawanda Chirewa scored the equaliser, Lesotho had offered a helping hand levelling at 1-1 in the corresponding match with Rwanda.
Nigeria now have to look forward to the next match, still at home, against Rwanda in August. At that time, Lesotho will be playing their home match against South Africa in South Africa.
Benin will be at home against bottom-placed Zimbabwe. Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
As it happened to the Super Eagles on the road to the Russia 2018 World Cup, South Africa may suffer match forfeiture for fielding an ineligible player in their last 2026 World Cup qualifying match last week against Lesotho.
South Africa won the match 2-0, but the Group C leaders may forfeit the match for fielding a player who had been cautioned twice before the match.
The player in question is Teboho Mokoena who was issued a yellow card in South Africa’s opening match with Benin in November 2023 and then in the match day 4 encounter with Zimbabwe last year June.
In the match against the Benin Republic on 18 November 2023, Teboho Mokoena was given a yellow card by Sudanese referee, Mahmood Ismail in the 54th minute. Again in the match with Zimbabwe Mokoena also got cautioned by Egyptian referee Mohamed Maarouf Eid Mansour in the 52nd minute.
The player was fielded last week in the 2-0 defeat of Lesotho. South Africa currently leads Group C with 10 points. Should the match be ruled as forfeiture, South Africa’s total will drop to seven while fifth-placed Lesotho, currently with five points will rise to eight points.
It was in similar circumstances that Nigeria fielded an ineligible Shehu Abdullahi against Algeria on 10 November 2017.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw but was overturned by FIFA and Algeria was awarded a 3-0 win.
Nigeria’s Abdullahi Shehu played in this game even though he should have been suspended for picking up yellow cards in two previous qualifiers.
The defender was cautioned in the Super Eagles 1-0 win over Zambia in October that sealed Nigeria’s spot in Russia, having been shown a yellow card in the first leg of their second-round tie against Swaziland in November 2015. The Nigeria Football Federation was also fined $10,000 for the oversight.
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