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| MAKING A MEAL OF IT: lunch with Danny Jordaan |
DANNY JORDAAN had no hesitation. When I put it to him that
Ethiopia couldn’t be docked six points for failing to honour a ONE MATCH ban,
he came straight out with it: “You’re completely wrong.”
Ever the cool football administrator, Jordaan explained: “That player is under suspension until he
has served his sentence. He should not have played against Botswana and he
should not have played against South Africa. Especially when the Ethiopia
Federation already knew they had made a mistake.”
To there it is. SAFA’s president-elect Danny Jordaan, the
man who engineered a massively successful 2010 World Cup, has spoken. I thought
the fact that Minyahel Teshome Beyene had ignored a one-match ban to play
against Botswana could only mean a maximum three-point deduction for the side
currently top of CAF World Cup qualifying Group A.
But let’s face it. Jordaan, steeped in football politics for
forty years, is the authority on these things.
And if he’s right, and FIFA decide to act against Ethiopia
for fielding Beyene illegally in TWO successive World Cup qualifiers, South
Africa are home and hosed as Group A winners.
As you can see from the three tables below, the task would then be complete
for under-fire Gordon Igesund, who thought he was OUT of the World Cup in our
distraught Sunday night phone call.
Under the “Danny Double Jeopardy” (table number 3) South
Africa would have a four-point cushion if FIFA give them a 3-0 win rather than
the 1-2 defeat they actually suffered on Sunday.
FIFA are refusing to comment on the case “while it is under
scrutiny” but the admissions of guilt from EFF president Sahilu Gebremariam and
vice-president Berhanu Kebede seem to suggest the case is proven. They can
hardly claim “mistaken identity” now, which is the only defence left to them
according to Jordaan.
All that remains is for FIFA to make the pronouncement. They
will also be asked to scrutinise two further allegations – that Dean Furman was
spat at in the face and that the Ethiopian No5 was booked twice in the match
but not sent off.
However this turns out, September 6 will be an interesting
day. Ethiopia go to the Central African Republic knowing only off-field
blunders might have denied them a place in the play-offs for Brazil 2014. South
Africa play Botswana knowing many feel they don’t deserve to top the group.
But whoever ends in that coveted spot will know that a final significant
hurdle remains. To reach the World Cup, African group leaders, uniquely, have
to play off against each other. And with teams like Egypt, Algeria and the
Ivory Coast lurking, Brazil remains a hope rather than a certainty.
CAF World Cup
qualifying Group A as it stands:
|
How the table will look
if FIFA act on Botswana game:
How the table will look if FIFA act on BOTH games:
|
Team
|
Pld
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
GD
|
Pts
|
South Africa
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
2
|
+8
|
11
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
7
|
-3
|
7
|
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
7
|
6
|
+1
|
7
|
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
10
|
−6
|
3
|
