The SA Football Association (Safa) on Friday dispelled reports that it paid for the South Sudan football team’s travel and accommodation expenses, for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Cape Town earlier this week.
The teams met at the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday, in their final Afcon Group K qualifier.
It was a one-sided affair with the hosts romping to a 3-0 victory, which secured their top spot in the group after qualifying for the African showpiece event with two games to spare.
South Sudan, meanwhile, finished bottom of the group.
Devoid of any truth!
Safa said in a statement: “The South African Football Association (Safa) has noted misleading reports claiming that South Africa paid for the flights and or accommodation of the South Sudanese team that played against Bafana Bafana in Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Cape Town a few days ago.
“Safa would like to put it on the record that these reports are completely false and unfortunate. Caf requires that each national team that participates in the Afcon qualifiers pay for its own flights and accommodation during the qualification campaign. The reports are devoid of any truth!”
South Sudan, however, were unable to bring a full squad of players for their clash in the Mother City as Sudanese head coach Nichola Dupuis was quoted by The Citizen ahead of the match: “Congratulations to South Africa on qualifying for Afcon. We have only 14 or 15 players here, the tickets were too expensive. But we are fighters, our players are in very good spirits and we will do our best.”