Johannesburg – There was good news and bad news for Bafana Bafana on Thursday as Fifa decided not to downgrade SA’s friendly international victory against Spain in spite of a rules infringement.
World No 1 Spain used seven substitutes in their stunning defeat to Bafana Bafana – one more than is allowed by Fifa rules in an official friendly match. The error – which was quickly spotted by Bafana coach Gordon Igesund during the match – was allowed by the referee and there were fears that the match would be downgraded after the fact.
Igesund said after the match that both teams had agreed terms for the match, but Spain asked the referee to make an exception after their second goalkeeper, Victor Valdes, pulled up injured in the second half. Spain were prepared to put defender Alvaro Arbeloa between the poles, but the referee allowed Pepe Reina to take the field after the six substitutes had been made.
On Thursday, however, Fifa issued a statement saying that the match would remain a full friendly international.
“Fifa can confirm that the South Africa-Spain friendly match of 19 November remains an ‘A’ international, despite the fact that Spain allegedly used more than the maximum of six substitutes that the Laws of the Game stipulate can be used for such a match,” the statement said.
“Fifa have taken into account that both teams had agreed on the conditions of the match and submitted the necessary documentation prior to the match in order for Fifa to confirm it as an ‘A’ international. In this context, South Africa shall not suffer any negative consequences on its part for adhering to the agreed conditions and only using up to a maximum of six substitutes during the match.”
The bad news for Bafana came as the new Fifa rankings were released on Thursday.
Both Spain and Bafana Bafana earned zero points on the latest rankings, which uses a special (read: highly complicated) formula for the calculations.
The complex formula takes into consideration results from the past four years, the strength the nations’ continental confederations (Caf for Bafana and Uefa for Spain, which is calculated on an average) and the priority of the match (which was a one out of four).
Since Bafana have struggled in the past four years and countries from Africa mostly don’t feature high up on the rankings, the values in the formula were low, ultimately leading to a result of zero.
This means Bafana Bafana remain 61st on the rankings, while Spain have not dropped any points at the top.
Spain may yet be sanction for breaking the rules as Fifa are still investigating the world champions’ part in the controversy. – IOL.