Bafana Bafana team manager off the hook despite World Cup points deduction blunder

Bafana Bafana team manager Vincent Tseka is off the hook following the team’s administrative blunder that could have cost them a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.

FIFA deducted three points from South Africa after it was found that the team played an ineligible player during a qualifier against Lesotho.

RELATED: FIFA sanctions Bafana Bafana for playing ineligible player, but who is to blame?

Despite previously driving the call for accountability, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie says he was satisfied with the reasons given by the South African Football Association (SAFA).

He said that Tseka, responsible for the team’s bookings, reportedly left the venue to get the team ice.

As a result, he missed the incident that saw Teboho Mokoena receive a second yellow card, making him ineligible for the next game.

McKenzie noted that he issued a final written warning, but did not indicate to whom.

RELATED: SAFA’s administrative blunder will not be swept under the carpet – Minister Gayton McKenzie

Speaking on Marawa Sports Worldwide, sports analyst Nqobile Ndlovu says even if Tseka was not present, a match report is given after every game.

“Even if he had not been there, the fact that he didn’t know even afterwards and failed to record the yellow card and inform the team is problematic. It’s very difficult to believe that that was the reasoning and that based on that, it was accepted.”

He adds, “It’s difficult to say that you want football to be at top level when you have incidents like this. It says that there is no accountability because an incident like this… there is a lot of money at stake… [if] someone can make an excuse that ‘I was going to get ice’, it says to people that we don’t really care, we can do what we want.”

To listen to Ndlovu in conversation with 947’s Robert Marawa, click the audio below: