NATIONS - South Africa demands replay against Ghana in WC qualifiers

Ghana qualified for the African World Cup play-offs by the tiniest of margins on Sunday, defeating South Africa 1-0 thanks to a contentious penalty.

Ghana pipped South Africa to first place in their qualifying group on goals scored, putting an end to Bafana Bafana's hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup in Qatar.

In the 32nd minute, Ghana's Leicester City midfielder Daniel Amartey was brought to the ground in the penalty area by South African defender Rushine de Reuck.

Amartey's exaggerated fall to the deck persuaded referee Maguette Ndiaye to gesture to the spot.

South Africa was knocked out of the World Cup as Andre Ayew tucked away the subsequent penalty kick.

Tebogo Mothlante, the chief executive of the South African Football Association, has announced that he will file a formal appeal over the outcome, in the hopes of having the game replayed. He was enraged by the performance of referee Ndiaye and his team of officials during the match.

"We will be writing to both CAF [the Confederation of African Football] and FIFA - firstly to investigate how the game was handled and secondly to challenge some of these decisions.

"We have already registered with the match commissioner that we will be making a formal complaint."