‘If Bafana Bafana dare play Teboho Mokoena…’: Lesotho FA warns SA
Likuena has vowed to lodge a protest with FIFA should Bafana Bafana field Teboho Mokoena in their squad on Friday, a Lesotho Football Association official has warned, reports for .
Lesotho hosts South Africa in a scheduled FIFA World Cup qualifier at the Free State Stadium. Mokoena has haunted South Africa since Bafana Bafana’s 2-0 defeat of Likuena on March 25.
The Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder should not have been allowed to participate in March’s rounds of crucial World Cup qualifiers in CAF FIFA Group C having received two previous yellow cards.
That effectually made the South African midfielder ineligible to play in the match against Lesotho, but, he was still given the green light to participate.
According to FIFA rules for participation, should an ineligible player play in a qualifying game, his team can be penalized by losing three points, provided the other team submits a protest within 24 hours of the conclusion of the game.
Mokhosi Mohapi, Secretary General of the Lesotho FA has been reported to say that Likuena will lodge a protest within a minute into Friday’s encounter if Mokoena is part of the 18-man Bafana squad on Friday.
“If South Africa dare play Teboho Mokoena, we will lodge a protest and will tell you why…We will lodge a protest which goes back to the other match, because he has never served the suspension that he was meant to have served,” he said on Soccer Beat.
“The suspension was supposed to be automatic during the match against Lesotho. Against Benin, he did not serve the suspension; he was not picked for that match.
Against Bafana, we are going to wait three minutes into the match and then protest,” Mohapi warned.
FIFA has not made a decision on Mokoena. Bafana Bafana engages Lesotho on Friday, with all group participants unsure whether the South African association will be stripped of points eventually.
