Bafana Bafana are out of the 2006 World Cup finals. The stark, irreversible news was received almost disbelievingly by 46-million South Africans on Sunday evening after it was confirmed that Ghana had beaten Uganda 2-0 in Kumasi and will almost certainly go through to Germany from group B as one of Africa’s five participants.
Only the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can upset the Ghanaian apple cart — and this is most unlikely, requiring in the first instance the Black Stars to lose by three or more goals in their final qualifying game against the Cape Verde islands and the DRC to beat Bafana by a similar margin in South Africa simultaneously.
The exit of South Africa from the 2006 World Cup following the 3-1 defeat against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou on Saturday is not only an instant blow to the country’s waning soccer reputation, but will have a damaging rippling effect on the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.
As the host nation, Bafana Bafana will qualify automatically for the World Cup finals in 2010.
But the need to kick-start the operation by qualifying for Germany was starkly brought home in an interview with Danny Jordaan recently when the World Cup Organising Committee CEO declared: ”We have to be one of the countries playing in Germany in 2006. We just have to be there.”
South Africa will not be the first host nation to miss qualification for a preceding World Cup, but it is a hammer blow, nevertheless, and only emphasises the enormity of the task at hand.
And adding to the ignominy of World Cup exclusion is the fact that South Africa have now slipped to third position in their qualifying group behind Ghana and the DRC, and are not certain to gain inclusion in next year’s African Nations Cup tournament.
Unlike the World Cup, for which only group winners qualify, the top three teams go through to the Nations Cup finals — and to be sure of competing, Bafana will need to draw with the DRC in their final qualifying game next month. — Sapa