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Bafana Bafana may have helped to eliminate Nigeria, but can they lift the continental crown in Equatorial Guinea?
In March this year, I saw South Africa face Brazil in a friendly match at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg to honour the late ‘Father of the Nation’, Nelson Mandela.
But I guess the Samba Boys didn’t get the memo.
They outclassed their hosts, led by erstwhile manager Gordon Igesund, in all departments, and I remember feeling sorry for the lads on the pitch and the organizers in the stands. “Maybe they could have, perhaps, invited a lower-rated team for this event,” I said to myself.
Two unique halves ought to make up a football match but this was one long night of brutal dominance and horrific capitulation.
I noted afterwards that: “The South Africans had every reason to be in awe of the Brazilians, but a side with confidence in their own abilities would have stopped paying too much respect and fought back, instead, they shrunk like lilies and were blown away, rather comfortably, by the World Cup hosts.”
Felipe Scolari, the then-coach of the Brazilians, led his men to a 5-0 thrashing of Bafana, with Neymar Jnr. bagging a hat-trick while Oscar’s chip and Fernandinho’s rocket added insult to injury.
Dean Furman & Co. looked clueless on the pitch that day while the South Africa Football Association officers ducked the barrage of questions they had to find answers to.
Nine months later, however, South Africa are being tipped as contenders for the 2015 Afcon title in Equatorial Guinea!
That time frame might appear prolonged to a regular league football follower (that’s about the length of a whole season), but international football is quite different. National teams remain idle for months without having to do anything, except for the few international friendly dates sprinkled scantily over the annual football calendar—that’s if they organize or are invited for one.
Igesund | Relieved in good time
With that in mind, the wave of optimism, which seems overblown, that has greeted Bafana’s qualification for next year’s Afcon tournament, and the audacity from some quarters to classify them as title contenders is one that requires some delicate investigation.
“How did South Africa go from disillusionment to title contenders in just nine months?” is a question that naturally comes to mind at this juncture.
Unlike west African country Nigeria, who kept (and are still) dillydallying over the extension or cancelation of Stephen Keshi’s contract after its expiry date post-World Cup, SAFA organized a lovely, little media conference to announce that Igesund’s contract, after two years of unidentifiable playing pattern and not-so-helpful results, would not be extended upon its expiry in August.
This was done in June.
In July, Shakes Ephraim Mashaba was appointed head coach (his fourth stint with the team). Considering the disjointed state of the suqad, few were overly confident that the new boss would even qualify for the 2015 Cup of Nations, let alone head to the tournament being considered among the contenders.
“We will not say to Shakes that he must qualify for Morocco [now Equatorial Guinea] 2015,” SAFA president Danny Jordaan said via the FA’s website.
“That is not his mandate. The mandate is to build a sustainable Bafana team for the next few years.”
In a matter of weeks, Mashaba assembled a fine blend of youthful and experienced players to prosecute the qualifiers with Nigeria, the defending champions, the Republic of Congo and Sudan for company.
Shockingly, after the final qualifying game, Bafana qualified top of the group and undefeated, leaving the Congo in second and Nigeria, who blamed even the corner flag at the Uyo International stadium for their failure to qualify, in third.
Pressure's off for Mashaba as Bafana progress ahead of schedule
Of course, it was a job well done, meriting praise and extolment.
However, does this mean that South Africa, whose first and only AFCON title came back 1996, have arrived?
Have they now rejoined the elders’ table of African football after an unbeaten run that spanned three months?
Results are results and nothing can change them. However, are the draws against a disoriented Nigeria team ravaged by on and off field dilemmas, and the victories against lowly Sudan and Congo truly enough to earn Bafana the ‘contenders’ tag for the upcoming tournament?
Mashaba now has northern powerhouse Algeria, and two West African giants Senegal and Ghana to contend with in January. And these teams need little or no introduction.
The Desert Foxes are undoubtedly (and according to FIFA rankings) the best team in the continent; the Terenga Lions’ attacking prowess would scare any defence; and the Black Stars are four-time champions.
It has been tagged the ‘Group of Death’, and only two teams will advance.
Mashaba’s latest stint with South Africa is only four months old, and his record so far has been remarkable.
However, isn’t it perhaps too soon to be burdened with the oversized task of gunning for and lifting a trophy that’s too heavy for its brittle shoulders?
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