DANIEL Bennett and Zakhele Siwela are due back home today after passing their fitness tests in the run-up to the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
The pair were in Casablanca from the weekend until yesterday for the latest workshop and tests for officials on the shortlist to officiate at the quadrennial showpiece next year.
Their invitation to go to the workshop in Morocco was a positive indication that they are still on course for the World Cup despite being cut from the Afcon panel after the controversial game in Nelspruit between Togo and Tunisia.
Bennett earned himself international notoriety for penalties he gave and did not give - while Siwela was given a low mark after missing a marginal offside call.
There were fears that the 2013 Afcon finals might have done irreparable harm to their World Cup chances.
Bennett has not been given any international assignments since the debacle but Siwela has officiated in African club competition matches. The duo are linked as they form two-thirds of one of the seven African refereeing teams on the shortlist for Brazil.
The other element of their team is the Kenyan linesman Marwa Range. Bennett and Siwela are the only South African referees short-listed for the World Cup.
SA ref duo in frame for Brazil 2014
DANIEL Bennett and Zakhele Siwela are due back home today after passing their fitness tests in the run-up to the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
The pair were in Casablanca from the weekend until yesterday for the latest workshop and tests for officials on the shortlist to officiate at the quadrennial showpiece next year.
Their invitation to go to the workshop in Morocco was a positive indication that they are still on course for the World Cup despite being cut from the Afcon panel after the controversial game in Nelspruit between Togo and Tunisia.
Bennett earned himself international notoriety for penalties he gave and did not give - while Siwela was given a low mark after missing a marginal offside call.
There were fears that the 2013 Afcon finals might have done irreparable harm to their World Cup chances.
Bennett has not been given any international assignments since the debacle but Siwela has officiated in African club competition matches. The duo are linked as they form two-thirds of one of the seven African refereeing teams on the shortlist for Brazil.
The other element of their team is the Kenyan linesman Marwa Range. Bennett and Siwela are the only South African referees short-listed for the World Cup.
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