adminMALABO. — For Shakes Mashaba and his team, the wait for their first appearance in this year’s African Cup of Nations could not come quickly enough.
Unbeaten in his third stint as Bafana Bafana coach, Mashaba has rejuvenated a sleeping giant and will hope current form counts when the team need it most.
After topping Group A of the qualification campaign and going six games without defeat, Bafana qualified for their first major tournament without the help of being the host nation for the first time in six years.
Now, Bafana’s redemption mission moves to its next big hurdle. Standing in Mashaba’s way would undoubtedly be his biggest test of the tournament as Algeria lie in wait at Estadio de Mongomo in tonight’s second Group C opener.
The match kicks off at 9pm.
As the continent’s top-ranked team, Algeria would want to build on their strong showing at last year’s Fifa World Cup in Brazil, where the Desert Warriors were the only team to push eventual winners, Germany, all the way.
It took a late, extra-time, goal to book Germany’s spot in the next round as the world’s football experts rang out of superlatives for Algeria.
South Africa would have to overcome pace and power from the free-flowing Algerians, who won five out of their six qualifiers, losing just once, in their final game of the tournament, when qualification had already been secured.
Bafana, however, have hardly put a foot wrong since Mashaba took over from Gordon Igesund last year.
The national team has faired well in their preparation for the continental showpiece.
A nervy 1-0 win over Zambia was followed by a 1-1 draw with Cameroon, before hammering Mali 3-0 in their final warm-up match last weekend.
Injury concerns have toyed with Mashaba and his technical team since arriving in Equatorial Guinea but the likes of Andile Jali, Eric Mathoho and Tokelo Rantie appear to be 100 percent and raring to go.
“Our arrival here signals the beginning of the tournament, if ever there were any doubts about the event then they need to be removed,” Mashaba said upon arrival in Mongomo this week.
“We have gone about our business with our preparations and we are happy with our achievements and now we wait for Algeria.”
Should Mashaba and his troops get a positive result out of today’s first big assignment, their path to the next round may be made that much smoother.
But with Senegal and then Ghana to follow, South Africa would be hard-pressed to allow themselves any time for reflection on how far the team has come since Mashaba’s appointment in August last year.
Meanwhile, former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Calvin Marlin believes the competition for the No. 1 jersey in the national team is the healthiest it has been in many years.
“I feel that the keepers have all been doing well and they deserve to be in the squad. It’s crucial to give them the experience of playing international football,” Marlin said.
Since the death of Bafana’s goalkeeper and captain Senzo Meyiwa in October, Darren Keet, Brilliant Khuzwayo and Jackson Mabokgwane have all been utilised between the posts — with all three of them looking to stake a claim in Bafana’s opening game at the Estadio de Mongomo.
The battle for the No. 1 jersey is set to hot up even further with the imminent return from a long lay-off of former Bafana captain Itumeleng Khune. Marlin backed Darren Keet to be coach Mashaba’s first choice goalkeeper.
“Shakes is full of surprises so with him you never know,” Marlin said.
“I think Keet should be the man for the job, but that doesn’t take away from the good performances of the other players.”
Stability in the goalkeeping department was crucial in a high-stakes tournament like Afcon, the former Mamelodi Sundowns number-one said.
“In a tournament like Afcon, it’s difficult to chop and change goalkeepers. Unless the keeper is particularly bad in the opening game, it’s unlikely that they will be changed. Coaches normally stick with the same player.”
Marlin, however, said rotating the man between the sticks after the continental competition may be a solution to appeasing each individual.
“I think each player should be given a chance to show what they are capable of after the tournament. Maybe alternating would be a good tactic.” The return of Khune from injury would make the contest for the goalkeeper’s position more intense, he said.
“Khune is a quality keeper, but he should be treated the same as all the other players. Once he’s back to full fitness, he may be in the mix and the challenge will be for the coaches to cater for each of the deserving goalkeepers.” Marlin still harbours nightmarish thoughts from Bafana’s 2006 Afcon campaign where they were dumped out of the group stages after losing each of their three matches, having failed to score a single goal.
He said a lack of unity in that squad of eight years ago, coached by Ted Dumitru, derailed their chances of conquering Africa.
“When we were there, we spent most of our time in the hotel rooms and that didn’t help us at all. It’s important that the players are comfortable with each other and are confident.”
Marlin was more positive about the current team set to contend for African glory and believed it was the best Bafana team assembled together in many years.
“This team has been exceptional. They have proven that they do not fear any other team put before them and that has been good to see.” — Supersport.com.
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