Baku-APA. South African kept the chance of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals as the Federation International of Football Association (FIFA) penalized Ethiopian for using a suspended player on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
FIFA announced that they have fined Ethiopia and awarded the match 3-0 win to Botswana. Ethiopian used Minyahile Teshome Beyene, who was supposed to serve a match suspension in a match between Botswana and Ethiopia on played June 8. Ethiopia beat Botswana 2-1 in the match.
The penalty re-opened the gate of qualification for South Africa, which trailed five points to Ethiopia in Group A before the penalty.
Ethiopia is still the favorite to top the group as visit Central African Republic on September 6, while South Africa to face Botswana in the last qualifying game.
"We welcome the decision, which I believe was expected. It was never in doubt because rules are rules, so in our view it is a correct decision. The decision also gives us a second bite on the cherry; we now have to beat Botswana and hope Ethiopia loses or draws against Central African Republic. But I am very pleased with the outcome," said South African coach Gordon Igesund.
South African Football Association (SAFA) also welcomed FIFA decision to deduct points from Ethiopia. SAFA Chief Executive Officer Dennis Mumble said, "We accept and welcome the announcement by FIFA. We would also like to reiterate our coach's views that there is now much more to play for in the qualifiers as we believe we stand a good chance of proceeding to the next round of play-offs, even though it must be noted that it's no longer in our hands. But we will go there (match against Botswana) and do the best we can, and hope for a favorable result in the other match."
In a statement, the world governing body FIFA said, "The match is declared to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favor of Botswana, with the Ethiopian Football Federation also receiving a fine of 6, 000 Swiss francs (6300 U.S. dollars) after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considered the EFF liable for having breached article 55 paragraph 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and article 8 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Regulations."
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