Bafana Bafana and South African Football Association(SAFA) get a lifeline in Teboho Mokoena’s yellow cards saga.
Ahead of their 2026 FIFA World Cup CAF qualifier match against Benin away in Ivory Coast on Tuesday, the South African national team were hit with an administrative error that saw Mokoena play against Lesotho despite carrying two bookings.
The Sundowns star was supposed to miss the Lesotho clash last week after he was booked during Bafana’s last World Cup qualifier before the Lesotho clash against Zimbabwe back in June last year and having also been booked against Benin in November 2023.
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The administration error was missed by all the parties involved in the match, and was picked by Bafana’s FIFA World Cup CAF Qualifiers Group C rivals, Nigeria, who quickly alerted both FIFA and CAF of the error.
Bafana Bafana’s Lifeline In Teboho Mokoena’s Saga
Having initially stated that they will join Nigeria in filing the complaint to FIFA, Lesotho Football Association have decided not to report the matter to FIFA due to the time frame for them to lodge complaint elapsing.
The FIFA law states that a country has about up to three hours after the match to lodge a complaint in writing and 24 hours to submit the full report.
“When we read the regulations, we realise that the issue of time bar will be an obstacle to us, so we decided to cancel it all,” Lesotho Football Association’s Secretary states.
Despite all the evidence stating that South Africa is likely to get away with error, LFA will wait for FIFA to decide the issue that could possibly see Bafana lose three points.