Sports
S’ Africa’s Coach Eyes Backdoor Ticket To Russia
Coach Stuart Baxter believes South Africa can sneak into the World Cup “through the back door” after reviving their hopes with a 3-1 home win over Burkina Faso at the weekend.
Bafana Bafana are bottom of Group D but can move top if they beat Senegal home and away in their remaining two ties.
South Africa hosts Senegal on November 10 before completing their campaign in Dakar four days later.
“If we knock Senegal over here, we’ll take it to the wire,” said Baxter.
“We are the ones now that can maybe sneak in through the back door. They have the pressure on them, they don’t want to throw it away.
“I will tell my players: “Take that last chance, be as focused as you were today, make up for any losses, don’t think about that as a negative but think about the chance you have to be a hero’. We will take every chance.”
Unlike all other African teams in World Cup qualifying, South Africa and Senegal have two games left after Fifa annulled Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 victory over the latter after finding the referee guilty of match manipulation.
Controversy reappeared after just 48 seconds on Saturday when Percy Tau’s goal was awarded despite the absence of goal-line technology or conclusive television evidence that the whole of the ball crossed the line.
Themba Zwane and Sibusiso Vilakazi scored the other two goals against Burkina Faso as Bafana sped into a 3-0 half-time lead.
Alain Traore grabbed a late consolation for the Burkinabe, who had topped Group D before the start of play, at Johannesburg’s Soccer City.
The result came as a relief for South Africa after the embarrassment of a double defeat by tiny Cape Verde in two qualifiers in September.
Baxter and his players had come in for heavy criticism after the losses put a major dent in their World Cup hopes.
“These players have put up with some warranted criticism and some unwarranted criticism, and we tried to put that right”.
“We were trying to put that right with a knife at our throats. In those circumstances, playing this well deserves praise rather than waving a warning flag.
“There will be plenty of time for that over the next couple of week. At the moment I’m just proud of the players, proud of their attitude”, added Baxter after Saturday’s success.
“We spoke about being 24-hour professionals. They will continue to be as professional as possible now and we’ll continue in our preparations to take every chance we can.
“That will be concentrating on what we are doing and not everything that is being said about us.”
Senegal lead the group standings with eight points, two more than both Burkina Faso and Cape Verde and four more than South Africa.
The West Africans need just two points from their last two matches against Bafana Bafana to reach the World Cup for only the second time – having reached the quarter-finals on their first appearance in 2002.
By contrast, South Africa have played in three previous World Cups: 1998, 2002 and as hosts of the 2010 edition.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has said that criticism that he and other players chased money by moving to Saudi Arabia is wide of the mark.
The 33-year-old left Chelsea for Al-Ahli in a £16m ($21.4m) deal in 2023, and in May the Africa Cup of Nations winner helped his Saudi club win the Asian Champions League, making him one of the few players to win both that competition and its European equivalent.
But, like many others, Mendy has been criticised for playing for money rather than prestige in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
When asked about such criticism, Mendy told a Tidesports source, “Al-Ahli’s project came along and they made me feel I had a big role to play.
“Two years later, we won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. So yes, that validates my choice. And I hope the coming years will validate it even more.”
He added: “Some people will quickly jump to conclusions and say the only reason is money. From the start, I always said that when I left Chelsea, I knew I was joining another team where I could win everything , which was no longer the case at Chelsea.”
The Blues have since won the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier club competition, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
But it comes after the regime’s trophyless first two years, a period which has frustrated some supporters after the success enjoyed under Roman Abramovich’s stewardship in the previous 19 years.
Mendy has also been celebrating what he describes as a historical win with Senegal against England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but days earlier he had been in Dakar delivering a different kind of win.
He is the sponsor of Yakaar, a school in Keur Massar, which seeks to improve funding and access to digital learning tools for local children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Famously, as Mendy grew up in France, he was unemployed, aged 22, while struggling to find a club, with members of his family still living on the outskirts of Dakar.
That is why Yakaar, a word meaning “hope”, was chosen, a word Mendy has carried with him in his career.
“Hope is what kept me going. When I was without a club, it was the hope of getting that first professional contract.
“Then the hope of playing for the national team. The hope of making my family proud by doing the job I had always dreamed of.
“Indeed, hope is the best word to describe my career.”
Mendy was also asked whether the responsibility of being an African goalkeeper had weighed heavily on him.
“Of course. When I was in England, there weren’t many African goalkeepers in top clubs,” he admitted.
“Whether nationally or internationally, I had that responsibility. It’s the same for other African goalkeepers like Andre Onana [Manchester United] or Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal).”
The entire refereeing committee has been fired by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with structural reforms soon set to follow.
According to sources, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed the entire refereeing committee in response to mounting pressure from clubs demanding structural reform. A major shake-up aimed at modernising Spanish refereeing from top to bottom has now been set in motion.
Head of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo and Head of VAR, Carlos Clos Gomez, have been removed from their positions. They are joined by several senior officials, including Antonio Rubinos Perez and three vice presidents, who are also stepping down. A new leadership model will be introduced, led by a CEO and a sporting director, aiming to overhaul how refereeing is managed covering assessments, promotions, and daily operations. While the leadership changes are sweeping, the current pool of referees in La Liga and the second tier will remain, ensuring continuity on the field during the transition.
Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday.
The Portugal captain, 40, joined the Riyadh-based team in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances, having criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed.
In a post on X, Ronaldo wrote: “A new chapter begins. Same passion, same dream. Let’s make history together.”
Although Al-Nassr have not added to their nine domestic titles during Ronaldo’s time at the club, they have benefited from a flood of goals from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Ronaldo scored 35 times in 41 matches across all competitions last term and was the league’s top scorer for a second consecutive season.
He has managed 99 goals in appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country.
Having helped Portugal win the Uefa Nations League a little over two weeks ago, the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Sporting and Juventus forward will almost certainly now be targeting a sixth World Cup appearance next summer.
Only a month ago, Ronaldo posted on social media to say “the chapter is over”.
That came after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up with Al-Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.
The comment fuelled rumours that Ronaldo was ready to leave the league where he reportedly became the best-paid player in football history with an annual salary of £177m when he joined.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino raised the prospect of Ronaldo joining a team involved in the Club World Cup after Al-Nassr failed to qualify for the extended tournament which is being held in the United States.
Ronaldo said he had received offers from participating teams but had turned them down.
The decision to stay until at least 2027, which is certain to be highly lucrative, appears to rule out any future prospect of Ronaldo returning to play at the highest level in Europe.