Bafana Bafana boo-boo

[wxwax]

What a colossal mistake by South Africa's coach.

With Egypt beating Niger, Pitso Mosimane thought all his team had to do was draw against Sierra Leone in order to qualify for the African Cup of Nations. So he told his team to sit back, waste time and play for the draw.

Oops.

Level on points. Pitso Mosimane misunderstood the tiebreak rules. He thought goal differential was the first barrier. He was wrong. It's head-to-head results. Niger goes through, Bafana Bafana go home.

Stupid. Now South Africa's trying to save face by appealing. They actually want the CAF to change its rules in order to eliminate Niger and promote them. "Those rules are wrong," Kirsten Nematandani, SAFA President defiantly told South African television channel

Good luck with that.

This elaborate and extended victory celebration looks silly.

Edited October 10, 2011 by wxwax

[Maksimov]

This elaborate and extended victory celebration looks silly.

Yes, in hindsight it looks silly, but if they'd actually qualified, would the celebrations have been over the top? They'd just qualified for Africa's championships after all. And when you consider that a huge team like Nigeria had just been knocked out, I think the players were right to celebrate they way they did.

[The Moos]

I must admit that I was sure that goal difference came first, but apparently it doesn't.