JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The South African Football Association said it plans to appeal a FIFA ruling that stripped the men’s national team of a win in 2026 World Cup qualifying over fielding an ineligible player.
The FIFA judgment on Monday to overturn a 2-0 win against Lesotho in March as a 3-0 loss by default knocked South Africa off top spot with two rounds left in a qualifying group that ends in two weeks.
SAFA did not have the chance to make legal arguments to the single FIFA judge who decided the case, it claimed in a statement late Monday.
“As SAFA, we are deeply disappointed with this unprecedented outcome,” it said, while acknowledging Teboho Mokoena should not have played against Lesotho after getting yellow cards in two previous games. Two cautions activate a one-game ban.
“We apologize to the nation for this administrative oversight and will reflect on the steps to take at the conclusion of our qualifying campaign,” SAFA added.
The appeals process is set to overlap with its final games, against Zimbabwe on Oct. 10 and Rwanda four days later.
SAFA said it asked for written reasons explaining the ruling and plans to file a formal appeal to FIFA within the required 10 days of getting the document. A further appeal is possible at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Benin now leads the group on goal difference, tied on points with South Africa. Nigeria and Rwanda trail by three points and all have two games to play.
Benin and Rwanda have never qualified for a World Cup, South Africa has not played at one since hosting the 2010 edition, and Nigeria last qualified in 2018.
Only the group winner on Oct. 14 will advance direct to the first 48-team World Cup being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, and take its place in the Dec. 5 tournament draw in Washington DC.
The runner-up in the group could advance to a four-team African playoffs bracket in November. That will decide which African team advances to the intercontinental playoffs bracket played in North America in March.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - South Africa Relebohile Mofokeng, front left, challenges Lesotho Lehlohonolo Matsau, front right, during the World Cup qualifying match between South Africa and Lesotho, in Polokwane, South Africa, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo, File)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
