Johannesburg - Remember the Nouakchott debacle, where Bafana Bafana suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat in their second Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away to Mauritania in Group M six months ago? It appears no hard lessons were learnt from that disastrous trip if national team coach Shakes Mashaba’s press briefing on Monday is anything to go by.
Mashaba and his 25-man squad, which is still likely to be reduced to 20, travel to Limbe on Thursday morning to face leaders Cameroon in a must-win qualifier, which will be followed by the return leg in Durban three days later. Late arrivals from Kaizer Chiefs, Wits and Mamelodi Sundowns players who were involved in continental club competitions at the weekend, travelling logistics and injuries were some of the coach’s concerns ahead of this massive encounter.
Platinum Stars striker Ndumiso Mabena has been called up to replace the injured Dino Ndlovu @BafanaBafana @SAFA_net pic.twitter.com/Bnm2yYk1Ge
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) March 21, 2016
But when asked if he’d studied the Indomitable Lions, who appointed a new coach in Belgian Hugo Broos last month, Mashaba said that has never been his approach.
“I don’t normally do that. I don’t worry much about the opposition,” he quipped. “I worry about our weak and strong points as well as what we need to do. This thing (analysing their counterparts) will make you relax because you think so and so are not in the team. So, whoever comes, we hit. Whoever they put in their team – whether they have a new coach or not – we are going to play Cameroon and we are going to make sure we prepare our team to the best of our ability.”
The technical team would work on polishing those “weak and strong points”, the coach argued. “There’s no secret,” Mashaba explained. “Football is about two things – defending and attacking. The only thing that comes in is the ingredients. How, when and why.
@dino08bravo has been ruled out of Bafana Bafana squad due to a knee injury. No replacement yet @BafanaBafana pic.twitter.com/wV9PwQbqpa
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) March 21, 2016
“And we emphasise in trying to eliminate our mistakes and capitalise on the opposition’s mistakes.”
He came under heavy criticism for a similar approach in September, when Bafana made their way to Nouakchott to face minnows Mauritania and came unstuck on an artificial pitch and the type of weather they were not able to acclimatise to having arrived there just in time to squeeze in a single training session.
Team manager Barney Kujane confirmed on Monday that Bafana’s departure was now scheduled for Thursday morning after a decision by Safa to charter a flight to Doula – followed by an 80km drive to Limbe – instead of leaving on a commercial flight a day earlier and arriving in Cameroon at night. But Mashaba said that wasn’t necessarily the best plan.
“We have been indicating all along that we will never have enough time and we get our supply from the clubs in terms of the players (regarding fitness) and the fixture must go on. Our travelling plans will make things worse because it is a day we are going to miss. I would have loved that, with all these problems, we play at home as that would have given us an extra day,” Mashaba said. “But flying can have its own effects, but I think we are ready.”
Bafana need at least a draw in Cameroon and a win in the return leg at the Moses Mabhida Stadium to stand a chance of qualifying for Afcon in Gabon next year. The stalemate in their opener at home to lowly Gambia in June last year and the defeat to Mauritania has put Mashaba under pressure to meet his mandate of having to qualify for a major tournament as Bafana coach.
He will be crossing fingers that the nine players scattered across the continent with their South African clubs will report to camp injury-free after team doctor, Thulani Ngwenya, revealed that Andile Jali (shoulder), Anele Ngcongca (abdominal) and Dino Ndlovu (knee) were being assessed by the medical team.
The trio arrived on Monday morning with letters from their respective clubs that they had not fully recovered from taking minor blows at the weekend.
The Star