BBK Unplugged

... And now the madcaps at Fifa pull an Italian job on SA's World Cup hopes

10 September 2017 - 00:01 By BARENG-BATHO KORTJAAS

Many thought sanity had finally prevailed in those long dark corridors of football power in Zurich when Sepp Blatter was dragged kicking and screaming into oblivion.
But now it looks like the madness that consumed baldhead Blatter has never left the building.
It seems the craziness has found a new home in Blatter's chiskop successor Gianni Infantino.
Fifa president Infantino and his friends are pulling an Italian job on South Africa.
We are down in the dumps thanks to Bafana BaLazy's anti-World Cup stance, and there comes Fifa with a kick in the teeth.
The bureau for the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers have ruled that there must be a replay of the South Africa and Senegal qualification match after Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey was handed a lifetime ban for match manipulation."This decision," reads a Fifa statement "follows the confirmation of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to uphold the lifetime ban of match referee, Joseph Lamptey, for match manipulation, the ruling imposed by the Fifa Disciplinary and Appeal Committees.
"The match will be replayed within the November 2017 international window, with the exact date to be confirmed in due course."
What this columnist can confirm without further ado is that the wrecking ball that is Lamptey has a moth to a flame like attraction to match-fixing.
He has previously showed himself to be a Humpty Dumpty whose list of indiscretions stretches from Cape to Cairo.
Back in November at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, the 42-year-old gave Bafana a penalty that never was.The crook, we are told, was working in cahoots with betting syndicates to influence the outcome of the match in favour of South Africa.
It is an art he masters with ease as the list below suggests:
In March 2016, Lamptey added five minutes in the Democratic Republic of Congo Africa Cup of Nations clash against Angola.
Five minutes became nine during which he gave Angola a phantom penalty and blew for full time no sooner had the spot kick been converted.
It turned out the 2-1 was the score the betting syndicates had loads of money on.
Six years earlier, he made a decision that left observers deducing that he was a fan of the "hand of god".
Nigerian striker Michael Eneramo used his forearm to steer a corner kick home at the far post, a "goal" that saw Esperance of Tunisia eliminate Egypt's Al Ahly in the Caf Champions League semifinal.Lamptey is an old hand at creating his own rules with his dubious credentials.
Fifa have allowed him to weave his witchcraft, aided and abetted by his betting bosom buddies, with gay abandon.
Now they are calling him out at Bafana's expense. The head honchos of the South African Football Association (Safa) are in a tailspin.
Still nursing a helluva hangover stemming from the back-to-back defeats to Cape Verde that saw Bafana slide from joint top leaders to tailenders of Group D in a space of four days, Safa president Danny Jordaan and his cheerleaders are screaming blue murder.
Taking away the three points will leave Bafana deeper in the hole as they will be left with one point...

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