South Africa’s national football team, Bafana Bafana, failed to qualify for next year’s edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) amidst a cloud of confusion and ensuing embarrassment.
After the final whistle sounded off a 0-0 stalemate with Sierra Leone at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga to rousing cheers and celebration from the Bafana camp with the assumption that they had qualified for Africa’s football showpiece from Group G, news filtered through that they had not, in fact, qualified, abruptly ending the party atmosphere generated at the stadium.
The South Africans went into the final match of their qualifiers with the knowledge that in the event of their win over Sierra Leone was complemented by an Egypt win over Niger, they would head into the tournament. If an Egypt win occurred and Bafana were to draw, the same outcome would happen by virtue of Bafana’s superior goal difference.
The latter scenario played out on Saturday only that the South Africans were humiliatingly dumped out of the qualifiers. The video of their premature celebration went semi-viral on Twitter and the like. Even Bafana and Tottenham Hotspur maverick, Steven Pienaar, presumptuously tweeted his heartfelt congratulations at their “achievement”, only to have to later tweet his disappointment at the ruling on the social networking site.
South African football fans will now surely cringe at the thought of a clause contained in the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) Article 14, which states that in the event any which team has the same number of points at the closure of all the group games, the ranking of the teams shall be centrally established according to the higher number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in concern.
In the context of the 2010 World Cup host’s group, they, along with Niger and Sierra Leone, ended proceedings on nine points apiece in a three-horse race. Whichever team obtained the most out of playing the other two teams would advance. Niger accrued six, the other two five. Normally, groups are decided according to goal difference in the event that any number of teams are tied on points. Hence the confusion and humiliation.
The South African Football Association has since issued a letter of complaint which is likely to be rebuffed by CAF.
Despite a feeling of extreme disappointment and commiseration attributable to Bafana Bafana that may be offered by the viewing public – and world – one cannot feel sorry for a team that decides to play for a mere draw, regardless of the circumstances.
The “Vision 2014” project may have been derailed somewhat by their failure, but this shouldn’t undermine their efforts to put out a decent team hoping to qualify for the next World Cup.
Bouyed from the great facilities obtained from being host to the first World Cup held on African soil, they go into the 2013 AFCON as tournament hosts.
They should hopefully by then have a solid team with a solid enough foundation. I also think firing Pitso Mosimane as head coach is not the answer.
The core aim of a football is match is for it to be won – a game in which they tried to draw as Coach Pitso Mosimane used two defensive midfielders at one stage while goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune resorted to time wasting tactics towards the game’s closure.
Let that be a lesson for Bafana in their pursuit of a berth in 2014’s World Cup in Brazil.
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