The Ghana Football Association has exposed the South African Football Association over claims of traveling 9 hours from Accra to Cape Coast for the 2022 World Cup final qualifying match against the four-time African champions.
SAFA made the bizarre claim of traveling close to 10 hours from the capital Accra to Cape Coast after missing out on the African play-offs.
However, the claim is a complete fabrication and lies as traveling from Accra to Cape Coast takes just about 2 hours.
"The truth is that the distance from Accra to Cape Coast is only 79 miles (127 km). Unfortunately for our colleagues, Cape Coast is a tourist’s city and many people across the world have been to Cape Coast and would be shocked to hear such a blatant lie from no less a Football Association than the SAFA. Our colleagues forgot that we defeated them 2-0 in Cape Coast in November 2019 in a Cup of Nations qualifier," a statement from the Ghana FA read
"The total driving time is just over two (2) hours and not 7 or 9 hours. Kindly note that the South African Team was led to Cape Coast by Police escort and motorcade. In fact, the South African team got to Cape Coast before the Black Stars got to Cape Coast. We urge every South African and all well-meaning football followers to google the distance from Accra to Cape Coast.
"Thus, the SAFA started creating a foundation for a mountain of lies even before the game day itself.
"Out of respect and sportsmanship, the Ghana Football Association kept its focus on the match itself unlike our colleagues at SAFA. Then again, these allegations cast a doubt on the good job done by the officials of the South African Embassy in Ghana. In fact, FIFA and its regulations does not allow any team to travel on road for six (6) hours or nine (9) hours within a country. One may ask, why didn’t the SAFA report this to FIFA or CAF. (The FIFA standard is 200 km warrant a flight)."