Bafana Bafana's World Cup opponents all in action

All three of South Africa’s 2018 World Cup rivals are using the opportunity of a gap presented by FIFA’s co-ordinated international calendar to play friendly matches in preparation for the resumption of the race to Russia later in the year.

Burkina Faso‚ the Cape Verde Islands and Senegal‚ who are in Group D of the African qualifiers along with Bafana Bafana‚ have all lined-up fixtures to utilise the opportunity to keep their national teams fine-tuned.

South Africa‚ who have friendlies of their own at home to Guinea Bissau and Angola‚ next play the Cape Verde Islands away and then home in August and September before their last two qualifiers at home to Burkina Faso and away in Senegal.

With four points‚ Bafana share top place in the group with Burkina Faso.

• Roger De Sa quits Maritzburg and invariably sparks Bafana speculationRoger De Sa's shock resignation from Maritzburg United on Thursday has re-fuelled speculation that the coach could be eyeing a place on the Bafana Bafana technical team. 

But there is a chance that the 2-1 win over Senegal in November might be expunged and the game replayed after FIFA said the result had been manipulated by the referee as a result of match fixing.

Senegal have two matches‚ starting on Thursday night at the 5‚000-capacity Hive Stadium in London where they play Nigeria.

On Wednesday they were still short of 10 players after visa problems.

If they run short of players‚ Senegal might have to call up Mohamed Diame‚ the Newcastle United midfielder who last week announced he was retiring from international football‚ having previously captained the Lions of Teranga but since lost his place in the team

Next Monday Senegal will take on the Ivory Coast at Stade Charlety in Paris.

• Big trouble for Bafana if Mokotjo is declared ineligible after playing for SAThe South African Football Association (Safa) could face a monetary fine and Bafana Bafana can be stripped of the result should Kamohelo Mokotjo be fielded in the upcoming friendlies and the player is proved to be ineligible. 

Burkina Faso will also be playing Nigeria in London on Monday‚ but first meet Morocco in Marrakech on Friday night.

The Burkinabe were buoyed by a third place finish at the African Nations Cup finals in Gabon and now have their squad bolstered by the 23-year-old Anthony Koura‚ the French-born striker who played for France at junior level but has now decided to switch his international allegiance to the country where his parents hail from.

Koura has long been courted by ‘Les Etalons’ and moved to Ligue 1 club Nancy at the start of the season after scoring nine goals in Ligue 2 last campaign for Nimes.

• FIFA to decide whether contentious Bafana vs Senegal World Cup qualifier should be replayedFIFA legal experts are holding discussions in Zurich to determine whether Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier against Senegal should be replayed after the referee was found guilty of match-fixing‚ TimesLIVE has been told by world football governing body insiders. 

Cape Verde are playing a friendly at Luxembourg next Tuesday at the end of a seven-day training camp.

Their squad includes 13 players based at clubs in Portugal plus new faces from the Netherlands and the USA.

 - TMG Digital/TMG Sport