CAPE TOWN – Bafana Bafana’s stuttering 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign hasn’t endeared the team to the public at large - but, at least, one light has continued to shine rather brightly: Percy Tau.
After a 0-0 draw with the Seychelles last month, and a 1-1 draw with Nigeria at the weekend, the South African national football team needs a point in their final qualifier - away to Libya in March - to secure a spot at the continental showpiece event in Cameroon next year. Despite the gloom of the current situation, the dynamic performances of Tau have provided some measure of cheer and consolation for football followers across SA.
Bafana are back in action when they host Paraguay in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Centenary celebrations at the Moses Mabhida Stadium tonight (7pm kickoff) - and, while coach Stuart Baxter is likely to ring the changes to offer game time to a few fringe players, Tau will still be the main attacking threat.
The 24-year-old has certainly benefited from his overseas sojourn. The former Mamelodi Sundowns forward has always been touted for big things.
Tau is also the PSL’s current Footballer of the Season, which is why he was able to land a high-profile move to Brighton & Hove Albion. The English Premier League club subsequently sent Tau on loan to Royal Union Saint-Gilloise in the Belgian second division, where the burgeoning forward has been in scintillating form.
Bafana Bafana during a training session at Moses Mabhida Stadium in durban. Photo: @BafanaBafana on twitter
More than that, every time Tau returns home for national duty, he is able to demonstrate just how his overseas adventure has made him a better, more confident, footballer.
At the weekend, with Bafana 1-0 down to Nigeria, he produced yet another moment of individual magic: a delightful feint and wicked drop of the shoulder bamboozled the Nigerian defence and Tau was in on goal; but, realising Lebo Mothiba was in a better position, he unselfishly teed the ball up for the striker to tap into an empty net.
Tau has always been a good player, but he’s definitely improved his game even more over the last few months. The second division in Belgium will soon be too small for him - and, with a bigger stage and better challenges still to come in England, who knows how high and how far the South African can soar? Furthermore, they always say the mark of a good footballer is not so much his own game, but also in how he is able to uplift and galvanise the players around him.
@BafanaBafana warm up at Moses Mabhida Stadium ahead of the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Paraguay at 19h00 tomorrow, 20 November 2018 #FORBAFANABAFANAComeShowYourLove @NMCF_SA @SAFA_net pic.twitter.com/bcEOk2VDX8
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) November 19, 2018
At Bafana, we’ve certainly seen evidence of this, especially in how Tau’s presence has brought the best out of Mothiba. The athletic Mothiba plays for Strasbourg in Ligue 1 - he has now netted four goals in just five appearances for the SA national team. City coach Benni McCarthy is still the country’s leading marksman, with 31 Bafana goals, but already there’s talk that, if anybody is going to break that record, it’s likely to be Mothiba.
And, if the 22-year-old is to do so, then he certainly has the right man alongside to assist him on the quest: the irrepressible Tau.