A Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) chief has admitted that South Africa’s potential three-point deduction is of extreme importance to them in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
While Bafana Bafana currently sit at the top of their qualification group, their lead could be severely compromised if FIFA find them guilty of fielding an ineligible player.
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During the last round of qualifiers, midfielder Teboho Mokoena featured in South Africa’s 2-0 victory over Lesotho despite being ineligible due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
The Lesotho Football Association, along with the NFF, have since been pushing for Group C’s table-toppers to be punished with the docking of three points.
NFF secretary general Dr Muhammed Sanusi admitted that while such a ruling would be vital to Nigeria’s hopes, the Super Eagles must still win their remaining matches.
“We can’t rely on the deduction book, because that alone can not give us victory. What we know is that we must win our remaining,” the Nigerian executive told Sports247.
“So, we must work towards winning all our matches, and that will, of course, ensure we qualify with our own efforts.”
Sanusi, however, conceded that the potential punishment remains key to Nigeria’s qualification hopes.
“If we rely on FIFA to deduct South Africa’s points and we don’t win our matches, what can three points do for us?” he added.
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“So, we just can’t rely only on the deduction of their three points, but we also know that they are very important to us.”
