Cape Town - Bafana Bafana find themselves in an unfamiliar position going into Wednesday night’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria.
For once, the pressure of getting a win in the last group match to qualify for a major tournament will be squarely on the shoulders of their opponents when they lock horns with the Super Eagles at the Ibom International Stadium in Uyo (kickoff 7pm).
The African champions Nigeria go into the match needing a victory to hop onto a plane in January and defend their crown at the continental championships in Equatorial Guinea. Bafana, though, secured top spot in Group A after seeing off Sudan 2-1 in Durban on Saturday.
However, South Africa’s coach Shakes Mashaba knows he doesn’t have a lot of time or matches left before Afcon kicks off on January 17. In fact Bafana only have two matches left before the end of the year, and possibly Afcon, with tonight’s match being followed up by next Sunday’s Nelson Mandela Challenge match against the Ivory Coast at the Mbombela Stadium.
Mashaba basically has the nucleus of his team sorted, as he hasn’t tinkered much his starting eleven during their unbeaten run in the five qualifiers they have played. However, these two matches might be important in terms of looking at some of the fringe players, and a few other options as far as the strike force is concerned.
But Mashaba seems a bit reluctant to change it up for tonight’s match, as he wants to ride the wave of momentum that the national side have surfed since he took over before the start of the qualifiers.
It might also be because the extremely patriotic Mashaba wants to rid the national team of an unwanted record that comes up every time Bafana cross swords with the Super Eagles.
Bafana have not won a competitive match against the west African giants, and there is quite a history between the two teams as well.
So, expect Bafana to climb into the Nigerians like they have something at stake.
“It’s a huge game, and having qualified doesn’t change anything for us. It has major significance every time we go play Nigeria,” captain Dean Furman said on Tuesday following a five-and-half hour flight from Johannesburg to the coastal city of Uyo.
“It would be massive to beat Nigeria in Nigeria. People keep mentioning that we haven’t defeated them in so long, but records are there to be broken.
“It’s going to be a tough game, they will fight for their lives in an effort to qualify. But we want to fight for our nation, for fans, and for ourselves. Beyond that we want to maintain our unbeaten record in this group and it’s important that we finish in a positive way”.
The players had a short pool session on Tuesday morning and had their final training session ahead of the match at the newly-built match venue on Tuesday night.
Bafana have actually played their best football on the road during these qualifiers, scoring five goals and keeping two clean sheets in two matches against Sudan and Congo-Brazzaville.
They seemed to have developed some backbone under the tutelage of Mashaba that we probably last saw from a Bafana side in the late 1990s. The late goalkeeper and captain Senzo Meyiwa played a massive part with his leadership and supreme ability between the sticks.
And another fighting performance and good result would be the icing on the cake, and another fitting tribute for the fallen goalkeeper, who personified the new “never-say-die” spirit among this current crop of Bafana players.
Bafana are bound to get another hostile reception tonight, as the home supporters will try to lift their team to qualification. But it’s going to be an atmosphere that is going to help Bafana cope with the pressure they will face during the Nations Cup.
“It’s been great to go to some of the places we have gone to, a hostile atmosphere or when the pitch was not what we are used to like an artificial pitch,” Furman said.
“It’s been an up and down over the last few months, with the death of Senzo, but we have remained focused as a team. We know we have a job to do and it’s great that we have come through without defeat and we are in a really positive mood at the moment.”
Cape Times