Embarrassing! Nigerians slammed for celebrating Bafana's woes

Nigerians have been slammed for celebrating FIFA's recent decision to dock Bafana Bafana three points for fielding an ineligible player in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Lesotho in March.

South Africa hosted the Crocodiles, but fielded Teboho Mokoena, who was suspended for that particular fixture. The World Football Governing Body took time to act, but eventually ruled against Hugo Broos' team.

Bafana Bafana have been docked three points in favour of Lesotho, who have also been given a 3-0 win. This means South Africa are now second in Group C, with Benin, who have the same number of points, leading the pool thanks to their superior goal difference.

Top 10 most valuable players in the PSL — Teboho Mokoena – Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix – Photo by Icon Sport

Nigeria and Rwanda are three points behind the favourites with just two rounds remaining to end the qualifiers. Instead of rejoicing with his compatriots, former Brentford defender Samuel Sodje believes the Super Eagles shouldn't wait for situations like this to have qualification hopes.

‘We can earn a World Cup ticket on the pitch'

“It’s nice to see FIFA doing what they have to do. For South Africa, they did break the rules, and they’ve taken three points off them. I think that’s normal. What’s surprising now is Nigerians are] seeing this as big news. I think it’s embarrassing,” he told Soccernet.ng.

“I think we’ve put ourselves in a situation where we have to depend on taking off from South Africa to qualify. If we think we have a chance—I don’t think we do—if we have any slim chance… hopefully we can earn it on the pitch.

imago1052172669h — UYO, NIGERIA – OCTOBER 10: Moses Simon of Nigeria during a training session in preparation for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON qualifier match between Nigeria and Libya at Godwill Akpabio Stadium on October 10, 2024 in Uyo, Nigeria. Photo by Victor Ihechi. Copyright: xGOALSBYVICTOR_2024x

“With the squad we have, with the kind of players we have in Nigeria, a big country like Nigeria, foota balling nation [like Nigeria] shouldn’t be going into the discussion about celebrating three points being taken off South Africa.

“So yeah, to answer your question, it’s embarrassing. Hopefully, we can learn from this and going forward to get things right and not put ourselves in a situation where we have to depend on people losing points,” Sodje concluded.