Shakes Mashaba is a few days away from a stress-free holiday. I know it’s confusing. How can a national team coach go gallivanting when he has the arduous task of getting Bafana Bafana to a World Cup is still staring him in the face? Well, consider the fact that, after Saturday’s tricky clash against Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, South Africa will only be in action again in August next year to play Cape Verde away when these crucial qualifiers resume.
What about the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Gabon two months for now? I hear you ask. Mashaba and his men, like the rest of us, will be watching that continental competition on their TV screens wishing they were rubbing shoulders with some of the best players on show. Of course it wouldn’t hurt to pay special attention to Burkina Faso and Senegal, who are in Bafana’s 2018 World Cup qualification group in which only the outright winners are guaranteed a ticket to Russia.
Speaking of Senegal, they are Mashaba’s safe passage to a luxurious get-away if he chooses one in the coming days. The Lions of Teranga, leaders in Group D and favourites to book their place to the biggest football global showpiece in the world, are in town to take on Bafana. Honestly, this result will determine how Mashaba wiles away his free time having missed out on the Afcon and seeing that the World Cup qualifiers are spaced out in the manner they are. A win for South Africa pushes them to the top of the group until these qualifiers recommence in nine months’ time. A different outcome, however, complicates life just a little bit.
You see, Mashaba is a marked man. Remember the speculation around his future after the failed qualification campaign for the Afcon recently? Turns out he is not entirely out of the woods yet, even though he was allowed to travel to Ouagadougou for Bafana’s hard-fought draw against Burkina Faso at the Stade du 4 last month.
Apparently a hefty pay-out amount and the timing got in the way of Safa showing him the door - they have been taken to the cleaners by Pitso Mosimane in the past for sacking him early and would have needed to find a coach willing to have just two weeks' preparation time for a must-win match away in Ouagadougou.
Mashaba is still the man for the job as far as I am concerned. The mandate was clear: qualify for the Afcon and the World Cup. He failed in one order (if you discount the fact that he did guide Bafana to the 2015 edition without being told to do so), but should see through the other. This has been my view all along.
Some members of the Safa hierarchy feel the coach has overstayed his welcome and are itching to give him the boot. It’s obvious then that Saturday is make-or-break for them and Mashaba, the only man to mastermind a victory over Senegal in seven matches between the two sides. Yes, that came in a friendly match and probably shouldn’t count for much considering Bafana’s imposing record in meaningless games. But Mashaba would be foolish not to use that to raise hopes and possibly earn himself a peaceful holiday anywhere in the world, with his grandchildren.
@superjourno
@extrastrongsa
The Star