Bafana Bafana could be about to receive a major reprieve in their saga involving midfielder Teboho Mokoena.
Mokoena has been the subject of discussion since Tuesday evening after it emerged that he was fielded for South Africa against Lesotho when he should have sat out the game as he was suspended.
The Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder had received a yellow card against Benin and Zimbabwe in South Africa’s World Cup qualifiers which ruled him out of last Friday’s match against Lesotho.
However, he was fielded, a decision that could see Bafana Bafana docked three points if FIFA acts on the matter.
Why have Lesotho changed their minds?
However, Lesotho missed the 24-hour deadline of filing a complaint at FIFA and on Wednesday, it emerged that they have no intention of pursuing the matter.
“Lesotho FA will not pursue; I’m told the whole ordeal will take too much money. Especially because they have missed the 24-hour window period to file a protest. So, they will not protest,” South African journalist Joshua Hendricks quoted a high-ranking source from the Lesotho Football Association.
The information was corroborated by Ghanaian journalist Micky Jnr, who quoted a source saying Lesotho have opted against filing a protest as they are time-barred.
“There’s nothing financial about the enquiry we made at FIFA,” the source was quoted saying.
“When we read the regulations, we realised that the issue of time bar will be an obstacle to us, so we decided to cancel it all.
Bafana enjoy big lead in Group C
“Nothing from our side now except to wait on FIFA to communicate how it will deal with the solicited issue.”
The news will give South Africa some relief as they stared at possibly losing three points following the administrative error.
Bafana Bafana moved to the top of Group C when they beat Lesotho 2-0, taking their tally to 10 points, and extended it to 13 following Tuesday’s 2-0 win away to Benin.
South Africa have a five-point lead over both Benin and Rwanda, who are on eight points, Nigeria have seven, Lesotho six and Zimbabwe bottom with four.
