By Tayo Ogunseye
The Federation of International Football Association, FIFA has remained silent on deducting three points and three goals off the Bafana Bafana of South Africa over fielding an ineligible player against Lesotho in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Midfielder Teboho Mokoena featured against Group C rivals Lesotho on MatchDay 5 despite picking up two consecutive yellow cards against Benin Republic and Zimbabwe.
Enquiries made by newstap.com.ng requesting official comment on the status of the game sent to the world football governing body since Saturday March 28 received no response as at the time of this report.
A forfeiture of three points and three goals by South Africa and awarding same to Lesotho would reduce the total haul of the Group C leaders to 10 points after seven games.
Presently, Bafana Bafana sit at the top of the Table with 13 points ahead of Benin (8), Rwanda (8), Nigeria (7), Lesotho (6) and Zimbabwe (5).
It would be recalled that FIFA sanctioned Nigeria with a three-point deduction in December 2017 after defender Shehu Abdullahi played against Algeria in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in November.
Several football analysts have posited that South Africa would face the same sanction which Nigeria suffered in 2017, a situation that would throw wide open the qualification for the 2026 World Cup in Group C.
