South Africa's two international outings in Lesotho last week will not be considered as full internationals because they were not handled by a neutral referee.

World football governing body Fifa now insists that all matches must have a neutral referee if they are to be considered for caps and for points towards its rankings.

If not, they are expunged from the records.

South Africa took a development squad to Lesotho last week for two practice games ahead of their participation in the Cosafa Cup.

Shakes Mashaba's side played out a goalless draw on Thursday and then were held to a 1-1 tie on Saturday.

But both games will not appear in the record books, and the players will not be able to claim caps, because of the Fifa edict.

South Africa planned a further warm-up against Malawi on Friday, but the status of this game is also not yet clear.

The South African Football Association was also unclear of the venue yesterday.

It has been scheduled for Moruleng Stadium but there is a Cosafa Cup match between Lesotho and Tanzania set for Friday at 5pm at the venue.

Mashaba's squad will train in Johannesburg this week before decamping to North West on Thursday, where they will stay at Sun City.

Their opening Cosafa Cup match is on Sunday against Botswana at Moruleng Stadium, with kickoff at 5.30pm.

Both countries enter the competition at the quarterfinal stages as they are among the top-six seeds.

Jackson Mabokgwane, Moeketsi Sekola, Thamsanqa Sangweni and Phumelele Bhengu are among the players Mashaba will look to on Sunday to secure the maximum points.