* FIFA cagey on soft points
South
Africa's hopes of gaining three soft points from their match against
Ethiopia have been dashed after FIFA revealed that a player cannot be
punished twice for the same offence.
South African media was abuzz with
reports that Minhyahil Teshome Beyene who played while suspended for the
Zebras game, should have also sat out their weekend clash against
Ethiopia. South Africa argues Beyene had not served his suspension and
therefore was still ineligible for t
heir clash. If FIFA, as expected,
docks three points from Ethiopia and award them to Botswana, there is no
way Beyene will be punished again for featuring against Bafana,
according to the FIFA Disciplinary Code. But FIFA, responding to a
question to Mmegi Sport, said a match suspension is regarded as no
longer pending in such a case.
"Regarding your question, please refer to the FIFA Disciplinary Code
which stipulates that a match suspension is regarded as no longer
pending in such a case," FIFA said yesterday. Mmegi Sport had sought to
establish if a player can be punished twice for an offense committed
during the Zebras match. However, Article 19, paragraph 5 of the FIFA
Disciplinary Code, states that: "A match suspension is regarded as no
longer pending if a match is retroactively forfeited because a player
took part in a match despite being ineligible (art. 55).
This also applies to the match suspension imposed on the player who
took part in the match despite being ineligible." FIFA look set to
dismiss South Africa's appeal, but are still expected to award three
points to the Zebras after Ethiopia admitted to wrongfully using
Beyene.Beyene had received two successive yellow cards against South
Africa and Zebras (away) and was supposed to sit out the reverse fixture
in Lobatse.
The FIFA sanction will leave Ethiopia at 10 points, meaning the
Zebras have a chance of progressing to the third round of the 2014 World
Cup. A 1-0 win for the Zebras in their last match away to South Africa,
coupled with a loss, by any score line for Ethiopia, will send Botswana
through to the next round. However, the ball is still firmly in
Ethiopia's court as a win over a fading Central Africa Republic (CAR)
will eliminate both the Zebras and Bafana from the race.
Meanwhile, FIFA is cagey on soft points in World Cup qualifiers. The
FIFA play rules and regulations are silent on forfeited points, referred
to as 'soft points'. Actually teams that finish par on points are
separated based on the highest number of goals scored in all group
matches. Then it goes down to the greatest number of points between or
among the concerned sides and then the highest number of points between
or among the teams. "At this stage we cannot speculate on what will
happen regarding the final ranking of teams and therefore comment
further," FIFA responded to Mmegi Sport.
* FIFA cagey on soft points
South
Africa's hopes of gaining three soft points from their match against
Ethiopia have been dashed after FIFA revealed that a player cannot be
punished twice for the same offence.
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