What SAFA President Danny Jordaan has said so far about controversial Ghana goal

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President of SAFA, Danny Jordaan and GFA President Kurt Okraku President of SAFA, Danny Jordaan and GFA President Kurt Okraku

The November 14, 2021 match between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa has created a row between the federations of the two countries.

The South African Football Association has been vocal in their rejection of the match result and the conduct of the Senegal referee who they claim to have been a subject of match-fixing and match manipulations.

These allegations, they have compiled with what they claim to be evidence of match-fixing and match manipulation to FIFA for review and an order for a replay of the game that took Ghana to the final play-off of the World Cup qualifiers.

The President of SAFA has been very active and vocal in this process. From holding press conferences to issuing statements, Danny Jordaan has resorted to every available means to impugn the integrity of referee Ndiaye, the match in question and the Ghana Football Association.

GhanaWeb chronicles instances Danny Jordaan has commented on the game

We have evidence match was fixed

On Tuesday, November 17, 2021, Danny Jordaan spoke at a press conference where he alleged that South Africa has evidence to the effect that the World Cup qualifier between his country and Ghana was fixed.

He alleged among other things that there were betting hikes on the game and that gives him the indication that it was indeed fixed.

“There was betting on the match… bookmakers according to them put a mistake in favour of Ghana. It is a fact that there was a bet on the match,” Danny Jordaan stated.

He added, “How is it that there is a betting spike just before the penalty happens… so it means they knew when to bet because it is online betting.”

CAF President not involved in battle

Danny Jordaan refuted claims that South Africa was going to leverage on Patrice Motsepe’s role as President of the Confederation of African Football to slug it out with the GFA.

He said that South Africa, by virtue of being a member of FIFA and CAF could fight their own battle without the CAF President’s support.

“If the president was not from South Africa and was from another country, there would have never been a call to ask if we can’t go to the CAF president. We are not going to go to the CAF president, he must not get involved. We are a member of CAF; we are a member of FIFA and we can fight our battles,” he said at a press conference.

Ghana would have suffered economic hardships

Danny Jordaan’s attack on Ghana continued with a claim that President Akufo-Addo would have suffered some backlash had Ghana lost the game.

Jordaan said that the Black Stars’ was key to the Black Stars and that Ghana had no option but to win the game.

“This match was a very decisive match, where Ghana only had one option but to win. If Ghana loses this, there will be major socio-economic problems even for the president of the country.”

Unhappy with FIFA over delay of petition

Danny Jordaan hit out at FIFA over what he claims to be a delay in the publication of the outcome of the petition.

He quizzed FIFA over why it has failed to communicate to the various parties the cause of the delay.

“FIFA issued a statement saying they would give us a decision on November 23. What is the date today? It is November 28 isn’t it,” Jordaan told the local Sunday Times yesterday.

“The question is why have they [Fifa] not even communicated with us? Why?”

He continued: “They must explain to people around the world that the matter is a lot more complicated than they originally thought and they need more time to consider their decision. Remaining silent for so many days without any form of communication is not the way to go here.

GFA cannot teach us what to do

Danny Jordaan latest comment is a response to claims by the GFA President Kurt Okraku that South Africa did not follow due diligence in their petition.

Jordaan in his statement sought to belittle the GFA president who is in the first year of his spell as GFA boss.

“You cannot be schooled by a primary school teacher when you are a university professor. We have organized a World Cup. It was voted the best World Cup on the African continent. We cannot be schooled by people who are just in their first year in administration and so we kept quiet.”

He stressed: “… it is our democratic right to exercise the provisions and the statutes to exercise our rights and as we said, it was Senegal’s democratic right to look at the statutes and exercise their options.

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