Bafana skipper Williams says wait for FIFA’s replay decision is hard

South African men’s senior national team skipper Ronwen Williams has expressed his strong desire to see the Bafana Bafana and Ghana World Cup qualifier match get the nod for a replay.

His (Williams) quest for a replay comes after the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) lodged a complaint to world football governing body FIFA as well as the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The complaint was in regard to what they believe was ‘poor’ officiating by referee Maguette Ndiaye from Senegal when the Black Stars controversially won 1-0 over Bafana Bafana on 14 November at Cape Coast Stadium, Ghana.

In a video replay that circulated on social media, Ndiaye clearly gave Ghana a ‘soft’ penalty which marked the difference between the two teams after Andre Ayew made no mistake but score the only goal of the match.

According to reports, FIFA were said to be in a position to give the final verdict regarding the penalty on Wednesday to whether the match will be replayed or not.

However, the governing body indicated that only discussions were held on the above mentioned day hence the verdict is yet to be reached for announcement.

Speaking to journalists at the Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge Launch in Sandton on Thursday, the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper said he is hopeful to see the crucial match being played again.

The 29-year-old also revealed that they are curiously waiting to hear from FIFA, indicating that it hurts to get knocked out of the qualifiers the way they did since Bafana were the better side in Group G.

“Hopefully we can get that replay and just go out there and fight because I think we were the better team throughout this group and to go out like that obviously hurt but that is where characters are built, and the guys need to stay focused and continue believing in what we are building.

“We are waiting. We actually thought that there would be some kind of announcement yesterday Wednesday but they said that the discussions were held yesterday. So we are playing the waiting game. I think we’ve got a very strong case. Mr Ace Ngcobo came up with an amazing analysis of the whole thing,” he said.

Williams also opened up on the Ghana Football Association’s response to SAFA citing that South Africa has no problem with them but the only problem was the referee who incompetently officiated.

“I saw the response from Ghana, and we don’t have any problems with them and the players,” Williams added.

“Everything was fine there. Our only problem was with the referee and their response didn’t make sense.

“They are our brothers, we look up to them and most of them play overseas. I hope we can get the replay and fight again because we were the better side in the group.” Nehanda Radio