Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos expressed his unhappiness with world football body FIFA for allowing Ethiopia to host Ghana in South Africa for their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
In October, the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) wrote to the Confederation Football Association (CAF) to move their home fixture against Ghana.
The decision to move the fixture was approved as CAF deemed the Bahir Dar Stadium unfit for international matches despite South Africa and Zimbabwe playing their crucial World Cup qualifiers at the arena.
Bafana claimed a 3-1 victory against Ethiopia, while the Warriors suffered a 1-0 defeat against the hosts
The Ghanaian Football Association (GFA) questioned the integrity and fairness of the move and wrote to FIFA about the venue change.
However, the leading football body said it was too late to adjust the situation with the match set to take place at Orlando Stadium on Thursday (15:00).
Speaking to the SAFA media department, Broos feels that allowing the match to be played in South Africa is an unfair advantage as Zimbabwe and Bafana had to play their away matches in Ethiopia.
‘I don’t understand FIFA’
“This is really not fair. First of all, they let two countries play in that stadium, in that location, very bad location, very bad stadium, very bad pitch,” said Broos.
“For Zimbabwe, it was also a very important game there, and now suddenly Ghana can play their game in a paradise.
“This is really a paradise if you compare it to Ethiopia. So, they have to travel, but it is a direct flight. This is not fair, and I don’t understand FIFA.
“They approved the stadium, then two games were played in that stadium (Zimbabwe and South Africa) and then suddenly it is not approved anymore?
“Is there no other stadium in Ethiopia you can find? This is a little bit surprising. That can only happen in Africa, I think. This is not fair.”
The Black Stars are South Africa’s only threat heading into the final two matches, with the group winner advancing to the next round of qualifiers.
Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have no chance of advancing to the next round.
On Thursday, 11 November (21:00), South Africa welcome the Warriors before boarding a plane to take on the Black Stars three days later on Sunday, 14 November (21:00).
“It will be two tough games in a different way,” said Broos of Bafana’s qualifying matches coming up this week.
“Here against Zimbabwe, I saw already there are some players that are not in the squad as the coach chose to see certain players in preparation for Afcon in January, and that is tricky. They will really do everything to please the coach.
“Then you have the game in Ghana. Let’s hope we can go over there with points ahead. That will be very important for us because if we win against Zimbabwe, it’ll give us more confidence to play a tough game in Ghana.
“But I am sure of it that they (Ghana) will be nervous. However, we have to focus on Zimbabwe because this is the most important game at the moment,” said Broos.
Source: news24.com
