Banyana Banyana defy all odds to qualify for the Olympics…..
An emotional Vera Pauw, not long after her Banyana Banyana team beat Equatorial Guinea in their back yard to qualify for next year’s Olympics, has accused the Confederation of African Football (Caf) of rigging the draw in favour of West African nations.
The Dutch coach, whose team shaded Equatorial Guinea 1-0 on aggregate after their home leg finished goalless, claimed CAF had been underhanded in dealing with her side and other non-West African countries when it came to qualifying for the World Cup.
“We were screwed by CAF, to put it one way,” she told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. “In the way they appointed the referees and conducted the draws, West African countries had to qualify, that was the tradition.
“But now it has completely changed because Zimbabwe beat Cameroon. Southern Africa therefore has two countries qualified for the Olympics. That is revolutionary for African football.”
Pauw also turned her sights to Equatorial Guinea, whom she accused of fielding what should have been ineligible players.
“Equatorial Guinea is a cooked- up team made up of Brazilians, Nigerians and Cameroonians. But we were well looked after by the Fifa match delegate, who came to our hotel regularly to see if we were OK. Fifa want to stop Equatorial Guinea’s practices and there has been a lot of evidence gathered.”
The former Netherlands and Russian women’s coach also expressed surprise at her team’s qualification.
-timeslive