The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has asked officials of the South African Football Association (SAFA) to eat humble pie by accepting the defeat in the final second-round group game of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
The Bafana Bafana were beaten at the Cape Coast Stadium by the Black Stars on Sunday, November 14, courtesy of a penalty goal scored by striker, Andre Ayew.
However, the South Africans have lodged a complaint with the World’s highest governing body of football, FIFA, to investigate the performance of the match officials on the day.
The SAFA further accused Ghana and Senegalese referee, Maguette Ndiaye of match-fixing.
The GFA, on the other hand, warned the SAFA not to tarnish the Black Stars’ image.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the GFA called on its South African colleagues to show respect to the achievement of the Black Stars on the said day.
“…this is not the first time Ghana has defeated South Africa and this will not be the last time,” the Association was categorical.
It further added, “In fact, every South African knows the pedigree of the Black Stars in football, a reason the team has a lot of following in South Africa.”
GFA further called out on what it described as “lies” churned out by SAFA.
Citing a tweet by SAFA prior to the game that the Bafana Bafana lads took nine hours to arrive at Cape Coast, the Communique emphasised that the allegation was frivolous, baseless and lacks merit.
“It is shocking, irresponsible, and outright disrespect to note that our colleagues from South Africa Football Association (with whom we have good relationships and mutual sporting respect) have chosen to spread falsehoods to the media rather than project the real picture of events before, during and after the game,” the statement read.
In GFA’s view, these “mountains of lies” by the SAFA are nothing but a planned scheme to “shift focus from the defeat, divert attention from their failure to qualify for the play-offs.”
It, therefore, urged all and sundry to disregard the said allegations.
“The GFA wishes to state clearly that we will always operate within the FIFA Regulations.
“As a good sporting Association, we know that Bafana Bafana gave it their all but lost to a better team (and must be forthright to tell the South African public this). We wish Bafana Bafana and our colleagues at SAFA better luck next time,” it added.
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