South Africa blame ‘politics’ for humiliating loss to Egypt News

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South Africa blame ‘politics’ for humiliating loss to Egypt

By Daily Sports on January 10, 2019

As South Africa reeled on Wednesday after a humiliating defeat by Egypt in a contest to decide the new 2019 Africa Cup of Nations hosts, the blame game began.

South African football officials said the 16-1 vote in favour of Egypt in Senegal on Tuesday was “political” without offering insight.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad Ahmad said Egypt politicians were more enthusiastic than their South African counterparts about the 15 June – 13 July event.

A CAF insider told AFP that South Africa have not been forgiven for backing the winning Canada/Mexico/United States 2026 World Cup bid instead of sole rivals Morocco.

Acting South African Football Association chief executive Russell Paul said: “Technically, there is no country in Africa better suited to host the Cup of Nations than South Africa.

“We do not have a fight with Egypt, we have a fight with the way the process unfolded,” he added, referring to the vote being brought forward 24 hours without an explanation.

“A delegation had been prepared for a Wednesday presentation only to find that the Egyptians had been there for a while, with government representatives, ready to present their case.”

Speaking in Dakar, Ahmad said the two candidates had equally good infrastructure and the greater political enthusiasm of Egypt was the key factor.

“Our audit firm said the infrastructure was equal so we assessed the political commitment in the two countries and Egypt came out on top.

“Members of the CAF executive committee did not feel any real support from the South African government to carry the project forward.” (SuperSport)

•Photo shows Acting SAFA chief executive Russell Paul

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 10, 2019