Two must-win games for SA

Football fans will find an unusual blend of matches in TAB soccer pools over the next few days as top-level club soccer in many countries takes a short holiday and the battles for places at the 2026 World Cup resume, but there’s big money to be made with two carryover and two added pools this weekend.

- By Mark Gleeson

South Africa have certainly shot themselves in the foot and thrown away a position of some advantage in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers through the folly of fielding a defaulter, but Bafana Bafana should still secure a berth over the next week.

FIFA took away three points from the country last week after Teboho Mokoena was fielded in the win over Lesotho in March, when he should have been suspended. That sanction leaves them trailing Benin on goal difference in Group C of the continental qualifiers.

Only the group winner qualifies for the 2026 finals, being co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.