Sun, 09 Oct 10:07:00 2011


A little more than a year after hosting a successful World Cup, South Africa woke up with a giant hangover after a failure to understand the rules saw them miss out on qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Coach Pitso Mosimane admitted he had changed tactics and played for a draw in Saturday's final qualifier at home to Sierra Leone, thinking it was enough to win the group and qualify for the 2012 finals.

However, South Africa actually needed a win to avoid being eliminated on head-to-head results between the three teams tied at the top of the table, but no one appeared to have studied the regulations correctly.

Despite playing out the draw, they were pipped by outsiders Niger, who qualified for the first time.

More embarrassingly, the Bafana Bafana celebrated their supposed qualification at the end of the scoreless stalemate in Nelspruit (pictured), thinking they had done enough to advance to next year's finals co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

"It's very sad for South Africa because the country deserves to be in next year's Nations Cup. I feel like I have failed," Mosimane told reporters.

The coach, who took over after the World Cup, was under the impression that goal difference was the determining factor to decide the group winners and when he was told that leaders Niger were losing in Egypt, he changed tactics and settle for a draw.

Niger had led South Africa by a point going into the final round of qualifiers on Saturday.

"Do you think I would have left (striker Lehlohonolo) Majoro on the bench and put on a midfielder if I knew that we needed a goal? It doesn't make sense," Mosimane said, before criticising the regulations.

"Africa is a jungle, my friend," Mosimane added. "The European and South American formats are so much better because everything is running smoothly, but it's very difficult to play in Africa".

However, Mosimane was not the only one to fall foul of a misreading of the rules.

The state-run African Broadcasting Corporation proclaimed qualification and the South African Football Association president Kirsten Nematandani even went on television to congratulate the team.

Reuters

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/09102011/58/world-football-blundering-south-africa-miss-africa-cup-nations.html

My question is, why does he have to say that africa is a jungle? 

The coach is simply insane.

Abeg africa is really a jungle jor. Even coaches and associations dont undsnd d rules for this qualification. D permutations n combinations are just too complex, tell me if u even undstd it urself?

^^^what is so difficult to understand in head to head. Twas the same thing that ruled Nigeria out of the 2006 world cup hosted by Germany. . . we had superior goal difference to Angola but they qualified ahead because they won in Luanda and got a draw in Kano. . . Coaches should stop making stup.id excuses for their failure. . . .

Welder:

^^^what is so difficult to understand in head to head. Twas the same thing that ruled Nigeria out of the 2006 world cup hosted by Germany. . . we had superior goal difference to Angola but they qualified ahead because they won in Luanda and got a draw in Kano. . . Coaches should stop making stup.id excuses for their failure. . . .

South Africa are either bad losers or dangerously ignorant. This rule is not being applied for the first time and interestingly, South Africa qualified as the 3rd (last) best runners-up for CAN 2008 in Ghana using the same rule. Then, just like now, they celebrated even after going down to a Chris Katongo hat trick at home and were saved their blushes with a Benni McCarthy strike to pip Uganda in the losers table. The Ugandans also cried foul although for the fact that the last group matches were not played simultaneously and appealed the qualification rules similar to what SAFA is doing.

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In 2007

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/bemused-bafana-in-the-dark-over-procedure-1.577948


[size=16pt]Bemused Bafana 'in the dark' over procedure[/size]

September 11 2007 at 05:16am

Johannesburg - In a startling admission, many of the Bafana Bafana players have confirmed they were "in the dark" over the Caf rules that resulted in Zambia catapulting over South Africa as Group 11 winners after their stunning 3-1 win in Cape Town on Sunday - and thereby gaining an automatic qualifying berth for the tournament in Ghana next year.

The damning implication, therefore, is that Safa's technical team under coach Carlos Alberto Parreira were also "in the dark" over Caf's qualifying rules - or, alternatively, failed to communicate the exact details of the format to the players before their ignominious defeat.

Ultimately, Bafana barely squeezed into the Nations Cup Finals by virtue of being one of the three best second-placed teams in the qualifying process.

But the incorrect impression bandied about before Sunday's game at Newlands was that Bafana would retain their position as group winners as long as they avoided a defeat of three goals or more - thereby edging out Zambia by virtue of scoring more goals though the two nations involved would finish with the same 11-point tally and the same overall goal-difference.

The Caf rules, however, stipulate that when two teams end equal on points, the deciding factor will relate to the head-to-head meetings between the teams concerned and not the overall situation in the group.

And with Zambia having beaten Bafana 3-1 after losing 1-0 in an earlier qualifying game in Zambia, it was "The Silver Bullets" who blasted their way to the top of the qualifying group with a 3-2 goal advantage over the two games after finishing level with Bafana on 11 points in Group 11.

"At no time did Safa confirm that overall goal-difference and not head-to-head goal difference could decide the issue between Zambia and South Africa," said Safa media spokesman Sifiso Cele, "and Safa is not responsible if there was a widespread misconception regardin this issue.

"In fact," added Cele, "coach Parreira was always adamant that Bafana's objective against Zambia was to win the game - and had this materialised, there would have been no arguments over the rules and who the group winners were."

At the same time, Safa at no time clarified the issue either - with some outrageously incorrect submissions bandied about that Zambia needed to win the game against South Africa by a minimum of five goals to win the group.

And with Safa silent on the issue, it would seem performances off the pitch were, in some instances, not any better than those when Zambian captain Chris Katongo tore the Bafana defence to shreds with his sensational opening 20-minute hat-trick. - Sapa

In 2011

http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/sa-football-stands-embarrassed-1.1153838


[size=16pt]SA football stands embarrassed[/size]

October 10 2011 at 12:13pm


reuters and SAPA dpa

A little more than a year after hosting the World Cup, South African football is this week nursing a giant hangover after a failure to understand the rules that saw them miss out on qualification for the African Cup of Nations (Afcon).

Coach Pitso Mosimane admitted he had changed tactics and played for a 0-0 draw in Saturday’s final qualifier at home to Sierra Leone, thinking it was sufficient to win the group and qualify for the 2012 finals, to be jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

South Africa actually needed a win to avoid being eliminated on head-to-head results between the three teams tied at the top of the table, but no-one appeared to have studied the regulations correctly.

Despite playing out the draw, they were pipped by outsiders Niger, who qualified for the first time.

More embarrassingly, Bafana celebrated their supposed qualification at the end of the match in Nelspruit, thinking they had done enough to advance to next year’s finals.

Mosimane, who took over after the World Cup, was under the impression that goal difference was the determining factor to decide the group winners. So, when he was told that leaders Niger were losing in Egypt, he changed tactics and settled for a draw.

Niger had led Bafana by a point going into the final round of qualifiers on Saturday.

“Do you think I would have left (striker Lehlohonolo) Majoro on the bench and put on a midfielder if I knew that we needed a goal? It doesn’t make sense,” Mosimane said, before criticising the regulations. “Africa is a jungle, my friend.”

Mosimane was not the only one to fall foul of a misreading of the rules. The SABC proclaimed qualification and the South African Football Association (Safa) president Kirsten Nematandani went on television to congratulate the team.

Safa attempted a damage limitation exercise yesterday, sending a protest letter to the Cairo-based Confederation of African Football arguing their team’s failure to win top place in the qualifying group was unfair and that they would appeal the decision.

The rules, though, were clear long before the start of the qualifying period: “In case of equality of points between two or more teams, after all the group matches, the ranking of the teams shall be established according to the following criteria: Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams.”

A majority of football fans writing on a local footballing website have said they do not approve of Safa’s decision to appeal.

A user called Mmusi urged Safa to drop the case: “Stop embarrassing our country. The rules were not implemented mid-competition.”

Sabelo wrote: “Challenging the rules is more stupid than yesterday’s celebrations.”

Nematandani came in for criticism after saying that the association would fight the case all the way.

“Mr Nematandani, don’t embarrass our nation further. These rules were the first to be put in place. I now understand why our standard of education is deemed to be low. When I read these rules, they are plain, clear and not ambiguous. You are supposed to take blame here, together with your entire team and management,” thabani1980 wrote.

“I think you must apologise to the nation for misinterpretation of the stated rule.”

The fans also slammed goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who was blatantly involved in time-wasting and then joked with fans during the game, pointing to an imaginary watch on his wrist. “Failing to beat a team ranked 150-something at home is disgraceful, add to that Khune’s disgraceful behaviour on the field of play,” Mandla wrote.