MONGOMO, Equatorial Guinea – “Football has its own miracles.” This was Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba’s frank response when asked if he thought his team could yet qualify for the quarter-finals in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Bafana’s 1-1 draw against Senegal at the Estadio de Mongomo on Friday night gave them a glimmer of hope in Group C. A win for the South Africans would have blown the group wide open as Bafana, Senegal, Algeria and Ghana would have had three points each.
Instead, Bafana are languishing at the bottom of the standings, needing a win against Ghana on Tuesday night and hoping for a favourable result in the other match between Algeria and Senegal.
“You never know what can happen,” Mashaba said after the match.
“We still have another game to play, so don’t write us off just yet. Football has its own miracles. With one game to go, we can still surprise a lot of people.”
Bafana will need to score goals against Ghana if Mashaba is going to be declared a prophet by Tuesday night.
The South Africans have been like a guy with all the moves on the dance floor, but who still can’t go home with the girl. They created a plethora of chances in their games against Algeria and Senegal, but have only a point to show for their effort.
Their build-up and interplay have been superb, and the locals have adopted Bafana as their second team because of their beautiful football. But they can’t seem to get the ball into the back of the net.
Often it’s because they take one touch too many or they are trying to walk the ball past the goalkeeper.
Oupa Manyisa finished his chance with lots of composure against Senegal. There will have to be more of that sort of coolness in front of the goal if they are to beat the Black Stars, who bounced back from an opening game defeat by beating Algeria with a last-minute Asamoah Gyan strike in the early match on Friday.
“We still have a chance, but then we have to win the game and score three goals. Anything is possible, and I believe we have the beating of Ghana.
“We will solve that problem of finishing, and I can tell you one team will pay dearly.
“People asked whether we could match the opposition at Afcon and we did.
“The problem has been scoring goals, but the day we score it’s going to be five.”
However, to score five someone must at least take a shot.
Bafana are also not shooting enough, and that may be a confidence issue, because of all the criticism from back home, most of it directed at striker Tokelo Rantie.
Rantie finds himself in such wonderful positions, because of his pace and underrated power. But he and his strike-partner, Sibusiso Vilakazi, should try to shoot immediately and not take that extra touch in the danger area.
“Except for the Nigeria game in Nigeria, where Rantie went for goal, in the other games we tried to roll the ball into the back of the net. Imagine if we start shooting,” Mashaba said.
“We have to shoot on Tuesday.”
Bafana have now lost two central defenders in two games, with Thulani Hlatshwayo coming off with concussion in the first half against Senegal.
Rivaldo Coetzee injured a knee against Algeria.
Orlando Pirates’ Ayanda Gcaba came in on Friday night and did well, as he showed aggression and fight. He could start alongside Eric Mathoho against Ghana if Coetzee and Hlatshwayo are unavailable.
“In two games we lost two crucial players in defence, but Ayanda came in and did well because he was aggressive. We went for the headers and the 50-50 tackles,” Mashaba said.
“The only thing we have to do is encourage our defenders to carry the ball into the (midfield) space to give us the numerical advantage.”