If the SA Football Association are serious about helping Bafana Bafana qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, they need to appoint Gavin Hunt with immediate effect.
Time is up for Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba. The 66-year-old grandfather of South African football has served his country well in different spells as Bafana coach, but in today’s professional game, you are measured by results.
And the cold, hard fact is that out of six qualifying matches for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa recorded only a single victory, with four draws and one defeat. That is simply not good enough, and Mashaba has to fall on his sword.
The lack of goals has been one of the major shortcomings in the national team, and in eight out of 13 Afcon qualifying groups, the winners reached double figures. Ironically enough, Bafana were the leading scorers in Group M with eight, but they ended third on seven points, with Cameroon taking the honours with 14 points, having scored just seven goals.
Despite the problems upfront, Mashaba persisted with the likes of Thamsanqa Gabuza and Tokelo Rantie for most of the campaign, despite both strikers not being regular starters at their respective clubs – Orlando Pirates and Bournemouth.
The joint-leading South African goal-scorers in the last Premiership season, Ajax Cape Town’s Prince Nxumalo and Thobani Mncwango of Polokwane City, were largely ignored, while an attacking force such as Ajax Amsterdam’s Thulani Serero was also sparingly utilised.
It just appears as if Mashaba is out of sync with the reality down on the ground of South African football, as he hasn’t been involved in club coaching since being at the helm of Black Leopards in 2004.
He has coached the Swaziland national team outside of duties at Safa with Bafana, the Under-23s and Under-17s over the last decade.
Contrast that to Hunt, a 52-year-old who has lived and breathed club football from his days as a right back for Hellenic. He took the unheralded Seven Stars all the way to the Bobsave Super Bowl semi-final in 1997, where the Nyanga outfit lost to Mamelodi Sundowns on penalties. Stars also won the First Division Coastal Stream that season.
He was chosen as the Coach of the Year after guiding Black Leopards to the top-eight for the first time, he won the 2004 Absa Cup with Moroka Swallows and then came the dream run – three consecutive PSL titles with SuperSport United from 2008 to 2010.
Hunt’s last trophy with SuperSport was the 2012 Nedbank Cup, and since joining Wits from the 2013/14 league, the Johannesburg club has ended third twice and second last season.
The born-and-bred Capetonian has made it big as a manager up north, and he is a winner who can bring a proper structure and game plan to the Bafana camp. Known for being a tough taskmaster, Hunt is someone who is able to rally his teams to play for him, and while some critics have labelled him a “long-ball specialist”, he has the results to prove that his methods are effective.
Wits scored the second-most goals in last season’s Premiership with 44, with only all-conquering champions Sundowns ahead with 55.
Hunt has shown that he is able to embrace and produce top-class attacking talents, having uncovered the currently injured young sensation Phakamani Mahlambi, while the likes of Daine Klate, Sibusiso Vilakazi and Sifiso Myeni have all blossomed under Hunt in recent years.
In addition, Hunt could also involve someone like Benni McCarthy – even just on a consultancy basis, as the former Bafana star lives in Edinburgh these days and is determined to become a club coach in Europe – to help sort out the goal-scoring problem in the national team.
McCarthy is South Africa’s all-time leading scorer with 32 goals, and has completed his Uefa A Licence already, which is just one step away from the highest coaching qualification of a Uefa Pro Licence.
The 38-year-old had a stint as an assistant manager with Belgium club Sint-Truiden until the end of last season, and is reportedly gaining further coaching experience at Hibernian in Scotland at the moment.
Hunt and McCarthy will be highly respected figures in a Bafana set-up, and will bring back the pride and gravitas that should be associated with a national team.
It is time for the SA Football Association to act now, before Bafana's 2018 Fifa World Cup dreams are also in tatters.
@ashfakmohamed
Independent Media