{"id":31088,"date":"2026-06-18T01:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/31088\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T01:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:16:09","slug":"south-africa-coach-rips-zwanes-three-match-world-cup-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/31088\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa coach rips Zwane’s three-match World Cup ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2015 South Africa<\/a> coach Hugo Broos openly panned a three-match ban<\/a> that midfielder Themba Zwane <\/a>received following a red card he picked up<\/a> against Mexico.<\/a><\/p>\n

„I think that the red card is too severe,“ Broos said on Wednesday ahead of a June 18 match against Czechia in Atlanta (Noon ET, FOX).<\/p>\n

On June 11, in the 84th minute of South Africa’s match against Mexico, Zwane caught Roberto Alvarado with a slap across the face<\/a> as he was running past. Zwane immediately received a red card, South Africa’s second of the match. The team was already without Yaya Sithole, who also received a red card for a rugby-style tackle on Mexico’s Brian Guti\u00e9rrez in the 49th minute.<\/p>\n

„I don’t think it was a red card when I see what happened yesterday with [Lionel] Messi. I don’t agree, certainly not. I think there was not even a VAR with Messi,“ Broos later added. „When you see the situation, the Mexican player blocked my player \u2026 When you get the red card for that, and then a three-game suspension. I’m sorry, but this is much, much too severe.“<\/p>\n

In Broos’s frustration over Zwane’s red card suspension, he referenced a moment during Argentina’s<\/a> 3-0 win over Algeria<\/a> on Tuesday where Lionel Messi<\/a> made contact with the lower leg<\/a> and Achilles tendon of Algerian captain Aissa Mandi. The play was not reviewed, and Messi did not receive a yellow or red card. Instead, Algeria was awarded a free kick.<\/p>\n

Typically, a red card would warrant a single-match suspension by the FIFA disciplinary committee. However, Zwane’s red card was considered foul play, and his ban was extended. Broos told reporters on-site Wednesday that South Africa will appeal Zwane’s ban.<\/p>\n

„The \u200csecond red card we can discuss,“ Broos said June 11. „It was the Mexican player who was blocking my player. But it’s the position of the referee, and we have to accept it also, but I think it \u200bwas too soft \u2060to give that as a red card.“<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Africa coach rips World Cup 3-match ban for red card<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2015 South Africa coach Hugo Broos openly panned a three-match ban that midfielder Themba Zwane received following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[39,29,10022,11165,12990,44,12989],"class_list":["post-31088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afrika","tag-africa","tag-afrika","tag-hugo-broos","tag-messi","tag-red-card","tag-south-africa","tag-themba-zwane"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@afrika\/116768471937790766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/afrika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}