The latest bizarre controversy to engulf South African soccer — whether spectators will be allowed to watch the eagerly awaited Premier Soccer League (PSL) game between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns at the FNB Stadium on Sunday — on Tuesday became, in the words of author Lewis Carroll, curiouser and curiouser.

South African soccer is not in need of another ugly controversy right now, but with the South African Football Association (Safa) appeal board on Sunday postponing for a week Kaizer Chiefs’ appeal to reverse a decision by the Premier Soccer League forcing them to play two homes games in front of empty stadiums, all hell is likely to break loose.

When the heat is on, it is not in Stuart Baxter’s nature to get out of the kitchen. The Bafana Bafana coach made this clear on Friday when the local complement of the South African squad returned from their ill-fated trip to Burkina Faso and Germany that torpedoed hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals.

A joke circulating in soccer circles for some time poses the question: ”When will Jomo Sono, the Jomo Cosmos owner, fire Jomo Sono, the Jomo Cosmos coach?” It could be something more conceivable than many imagine should Sono’s embattled club not emerge from the rut that has plagued them for the past year.

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.

The Bafana Bafana contingent returned to Bremen on Sunday for what is being termed ”the battle of the losers” after the demoralising and devastating 3-1 World Cup qualifying defeat against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou on Saturday. ”But we have a job to do,” said Bafana general manager Stanley Tshabalala, referring to the friendly international against Germany.

The Stallions of Burkina Faso left Bafana Bafana flat-footed at the starting post at the National Stadium in Ouagadougou on Saturday night and inflicted a 3-1 defeat on their bemused opponents, which has all but ruled South Africa out of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals in Germany.

Late on Friday afternoon, all the Bafana Bafana players apart from Benni McCarthy were ensconced in their camp in Ouagadougou, gearing themselves physically and mentally for Saturday’s vital World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso. McCarthy has presented Stuart Baxter with a headache he hardly needs at this critical juncture.