“At club level, it is easier to keep track of your yellow cards because we play on Wednesdays and Saturdays,” Mphahlele said.
As the debate rages on about who should shoulder the blame for the blunder surrounding Bafana Bafana’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers, former international Ramahlwe Mphahlele has weighed in on the matter.
FIFA sanctioned South Africa by deducting three points after the national team fielded Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho earlier this year, despite the midfielder being ineligible to play due to suspension. Mokoena had accumulated two yellow cards prior to the fixture.
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Hugo Broos’ side had claimed a 2-0 win over their neighbours in March, with goals from Relebohile Mofokeng and Jayden Adams at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. However, the governing body announced on Monday that Bafana would forfeit the match, awarding Lesotho a 3-0 victory.
“At club level, it is easier to keep track of your yellow cards because we play on Wednesdays and Saturdays. You get a yellow card against Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday and one against Orlando Pirates on Sunday, then you’re well aware that you have two cautions,” said Mphahlele on Game On with Thabiso Mosia on Radio 2000.
“It gets tricky in the national team where you play after a long time and you forget that you played two months ago and you got a yellow card. I think yes, players should be responsible too in keeping tabs on what they have but it’s so difficult for the national team.
“I think the (team) manager was supposed to take responsibility for that before we played to check. Anyway, it has happened and we just have to focus on winning the last two games and qualify for the World Cup because it won’t help us to dwell on it so let’s qualify and deal with it afterwards.”
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The punishment has left South Africa in second place in Group C, level on 14 points with Benin, with just two qualifying fixtures remaining. Mphahlele, however, insists the sanction should not demoralise the squad but rather serve as a rallying point.
“I think there’s no better way to actually be motivated to say one of us in the team has neglected his duties. Maybe it’s the manager or whoever but I think this is the perfect time for the boys to say this is just a little setback and we still have a chance here,” the 35-year-old said.
“The likes of Nigeria are probably happy but remember that it’s still in our hands. If we win our last two games, we can still go through and they also have to win their games. This is a perfect chance for Bafana that yes it happened and we can reverse it. This is the reality where they have taken the points but we have two more games to play.
“We can come back and talk about this thing that people who made those mistakes must take accountability. My message to Bafana right now is that there’s no need to be pointing fingers at each other and they have to put it to the side and win the last two games and qualify for the World Cup.”
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Meanwhile, SAFA has confirmed it will appeal FIFA’s decision. The association has also been fined 10,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to R216,500.