SAFA and the Bafana Bafana technical team's failure to read Confederation of African Football rules backfired spectacularly on Saturday as players and officials embarrassed themselves in front of the whole world.
When Kenyan referee Sylvester Kirwa blew the final whistle, the 35000-strong home crowd erupted into rapturous celebrations. Some of the parties in Nelspruit and surrounding areas went on until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The players, led by stand-in captain Siphiwe Tshabalala and senior players Katlego Mphela and Itumeleng Khune, did their famous World Cup diski dance, a lap of honour and blew kisses to the enthusiastic supporters, thinking that their place in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations had been secured.
But CAF rules were clear from the start and some officials from Safa sold coach Pitso Mosimane down the river by not familiarising themselves with all the permutations on the day. Mosimane is the head of the technical team and should also take the blame.
Article 14 of the competition regulations applies as follows: Niger, South Africa and Sierra Leone all finished tied on nine points each, with Egypt bottom of the group with five points. In case of equality of points between two or more teams, after all the group matches, the ranking of the teams shall be established according to the following criteria: 14.1 Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams.
Therefore, CAF considered only results of matches between the concerned teams, ie Niger, South Africa and Sierra Leone (discounting Egypt as the bottom team with five points - hence not concerned), resulting in the following ranking based on four matches played by each teams concerned: Niger six points, South Africa five points and Sierra Leone five points.
On the simple goal difference and head-to-head, South Africa were still on top of Group G until later when CAF applied their ludicrous rule. This infuriated Mosimane, who said his players deserved to go through.
"How do I go back to the dressing room and tell the boys that they have not qualified. Give me the log standings and they will tell you South Africa are on top. When I do my planning I look at the goal average and head to head. Even some of you (media) guys are still confused. I don't understand this and it's a sad day. I feel like I have failed South Africa," said an emotional Mosimane.
We failed to read the fine print
SAFA and the Bafana Bafana technical team's failure to read Confederation of African Football rules backfired spectacularly on Saturday as players and officials embarrassed themselves in front of the whole world.
When Kenyan referee Sylvester Kirwa blew the final whistle, the 35000-strong home crowd erupted into rapturous celebrations. Some of the parties in Nelspruit and surrounding areas went on until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The players, led by stand-in captain Siphiwe Tshabalala and senior players Katlego Mphela and Itumeleng Khune, did their famous World Cup diski dance, a lap of honour and blew kisses to the enthusiastic supporters, thinking that their place in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations had been secured.
But CAF rules were clear from the start and some officials from Safa sold coach Pitso Mosimane down the river by not familiarising themselves with all the permutations on the day. Mosimane is the head of the technical team and should also take the blame.
Article 14 of the competition regulations applies as follows: Niger, South Africa and Sierra Leone all finished tied on nine points each, with Egypt bottom of the group with five points. In case of equality of points between two or more teams, after all the group matches, the ranking of the teams shall be established according to the following criteria: 14.1 Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams.
Therefore, CAF considered only results of matches between the concerned teams, ie Niger, South Africa and Sierra Leone (discounting Egypt as the bottom team with five points - hence not concerned), resulting in the following ranking based on four matches played by each teams concerned: Niger six points, South Africa five points and Sierra Leone five points.
On the simple goal difference and head-to-head, South Africa were still on top of Group G until later when CAF applied their ludicrous rule. This infuriated Mosimane, who said his players deserved to go through.
"How do I go back to the dressing room and tell the boys that they have not qualified. Give me the log standings and they will tell you South Africa are on top. When I do my planning I look at the goal average and head to head. Even some of you (media) guys are still confused. I don't understand this and it's a sad day. I feel like I have failed South Africa," said an emotional Mosimane.
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