Safa off to bitch at Fifa

CEO to travel to Switzerland to convey Safa's 'annoyance' at how Fifa handled Senegal replay decision

Senior SA Football Association officials will travel to Switzerland soon to voice their unhappiness with Fifa after the governing body ordered Bafana Bafana to replay their 2018 World Cup qualifier against Senegal.

Bafana beat Senegal 2-1 in Polokwane in November last year, but the game came under scrutiny after the west Africans reported referee Joseph Lamptey's performance to Fifa.

Safa faced criticism after it announced it would not challenge the decision.

Safa CEO Dennis Mumble said he would travel to Fifa headquarters with the association's legal committee head, Norman Arendse, to communicate the country's annoyance.

''The way it stands we will replay the game, as instructed by Fifa," Mumble said.

''We are not formally challenging the decision, but we are going to register our concerns.

 ''Should courts find that Fifa erred in this matter, then clearly we have to also go in and assert our rights," Mumble said.

''As much as we agreed to replay the match because we do not want to be recipients of a corrupt outcome, it doesn't mean that we should not raise these matters."

Mumble said there were other issues that did not sit well with Safa.

The rules require teams to register protests within two hours after a match and there is suspicion Senegal did not meet this deadline.

Mumble said even though Safa had agreed to a replay, it could still challenge the decision.

''We are leaving the door open and if anything changes, we will reassess our position.

"We still believe it was the right decision to support the replay of this match, but at the same time we must still raise our concerns.

''If there is a legal way for us to do that, we are not going to sit back and fold our arms."