Cape Town - Playing in Cape Town leaves Bafana Bafana manager Shakes Mashaba nervous. No, it is not the fans’ fault. And no, there is nothing wrong with Cape Town Stadium.
The thing that has Mashaba wary is the weather.
And his biggest worry is that it might rain or be cold or that the wind might be blowing on Wednesday when Bafana run on to the pitch to take on Nigeria’s Super Eagles in an Afcon Cup qualifying match.
“Unfortunately our boys are not good visitors to the Mother City when it rains or when the wind is blowing and it is cold,” Mashaba said on Monday.
“Of course the Cape Town fans are very good and as passionate as those in the rest of the country. I have also played here with Bafana Bafana before and Cape Town Stadium is a world-class pitch, there can be no doubts about that.
“But Cape Town is a place where you can have all four seasons in one day. First the sun is shining and it is warm. Then the wind blows, the clouds come and it rains. Then it gets cold. That is what I fear right now.
“If we get some warmer weather on Wednesday, I am certain we can take the fight to the Nigerians.”
Mashaba arrives in Cape Town with a team brimming with new talent - new talent that brought the perennial underperformers an important win in Sudan at the weekend.
Bringing in fresh blood has been the Bafana manager’s mantra since he took over for his second stint as the national team boss. This came after a line of high - profile coaches were unable to motivate the team to winning ways over a long period of time.
Asked about his approach to improve team morale, Mashaba said it was vital for him to blood new players.
“That’s it. You get the young boys in, you give the new boys a chance to play.
“And that worked for us. I was very happy to see how the young players used their skills, how they kept calm under pressure in the first half and held Sudan. Then, in the second half, we scored and we won the match.”
Mashaba said that the first 10 to 20 minutes at the stadium would be crucial on Wednesday.
“If we can hold them like that, like the way we held Sudan, I think we can win this one.”
Earlier he said the fact that South Africa had never beaten Nigeria in a competitive match and only once in a friendly, should be left to history. “History should stay in history. Just because we have only lost to Nigeria, does not mean we have to continue losing to them.
“My biggest worry is that the boys will motivate themselves too much.
“This Nigerian team is a good team. For their game against Congo at the weekend, they walked around like peacocks, they did not think they were going to lose. After the Congolese scored, Nigeria threw everything at them and they were unlucky not to equalise.
“We must know that Nigeria are going to come at us, they are going to be angry and hungry.”
* Wednesday is expected to be partly cloudy with a 28km/h south-easterly wind, and temperatures ranging from 10°C to 15°C.
Cape Argus