The World’s football governing body has thrown out the protest filed against Ghana by South Africa, according to reports in the local media
Fifa have rejected South Africa’s protest against Ghana and Senegalese referee Maguitta Ndiaye following the 1-0 defeat a fortnight ago in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, AshesGyamera.com understand.
The Black Stars were in a dire need of three points to top Group G and book their place in the playoffs while South Africa needed just a point, however, it was Ghana that had the last laugh.
Andre Ayew scored the only goal after referee Ndiaye awarded Ghana a penalty after Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey was heckled down in the penalty box but officials from South Africa believed that the referee was manipulated prompting a complaint to Fifa.
They further alleged that a Ghanaian official travelled to Senegal to meet referee Ndiaye before the game and manipulated the referees even before kick off.
Although, Ghana responded to the allegations on November 20, the official ruling has since not been released.
However, reports in the local media indicate that Fifa has rejected all the allegations leveled against Ghana and the referee and therefore, there will not be any replay as earlier anticipated.
Despite no evidence of match manipulation and fixing found, Senegalese referee Ndiaye Maguitta, however, will likely be punished with some games ban since his general performance was below average, according to the match review panel.
Ghana will progress to the next stage of the competition and face either Senegal who are currently the best ranked county on the continent or Morocco.
There is also a possibility of the Black Stars facing Nigeria, Tunisia or Mali since these countries complete the top five ranked countries left in the qualifiers.
The official draw for the playoffs has been moved from December to January, 2022 and the games have been scheduled for March 2022 after the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana qualified to their maiden participation at the World Cup in 2006 and were also present in 2010 and 2014 editions held in South Africa and Brazil respectively.
However, they missed the 2018 edition by a whisker after South African referee Daniel Bennett robbed them of a late goal against Uganda. Although, they protested, Fifa only banned the referee and stood by the scoreline which aided Egypt to qualify in the end.
