South Africa overcame the embarrassment of a three-point deduction in their World Cup qualifying campaign to finish top of their group and reach next year’s finals, although they had Nigeria partially to thank for the progress.
South Africa beat Rwanda 3-0 in Nelspruit on Tuesday to finish first in Group C as Benin, who had a two-point lead going into the final round of fixtures, tumbled from top place to third in the standings as they lost 4-0 against Nigeria in Uyo.
Victor Osimhen grabbed a hat-trick to keep Nigeria’s hopes alive but they will have to negotiate a playoff next month for the four best runners-up from the nine African qualifying groups.
South Africa finished on 18 points, with Nigeria runners-up ahead of Benin on goal difference as both ended with 17 points.
It will be South Africa’s first appearance at a World Cup since they qualified automatically as hosts in 2010.
On Monday, Cape Verde became the sixth African nation to qualify, joining Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco at next year’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/soccer/south-africa-qualify-despite-points-deduction-c-20352345
