Bafana clones prove winners
They might be Bafana Bafana by default, but they could sleep tonight as authentic champions, says Njabulo Ngidi.
|||Johannesburg - They might be Bafana Bafana by default after Safa chose to send the Olympics-bound national Under-23 team to the Cosafa Cup instead of the senior national team, but they could sleep tonight as authentic champions.
It would be a massive turnaround after coach Shakes Mashaba begrudgingly agreed to take the Under-23s because the bigger picture of preparing for the Rio Olympics was more important than his desire to see Bafana first conquer southern Africa, then the continent and eventually the world.
But this team has managed to do both – march to the final after going past Lesotho and Swaziland while they prepare for the Olympics in the process, picking up valuable lessons.
One of those is the desperate need to solidify the defence, which has been opened up with ease in their first two games where they trailed before bouncing back to win.
Botswana will look to take advantage of that on Saturday (SA, 6.30pm) in the Cosafa Cup final at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek.Mashaba spent the two days after they qualified for the final weighing the pros and cons of starting with Reyaad Pieterse in goals.
The SuperSport United goalkeeper is the closest this team has to a solid and vocal leader at the back, but he has struggled with injuries. He was uncomfortable in some moments against Lesotho while he only played the first half against Swaziland, with Jody February coming on in his place.
“One worrying factor was that even though Swaziland were a man down towards the latter stages of the match, they were still able to combine well and were getting into our box with ease,” Mashaba said.
”That’s an area that we need to deal with before this team goes to Rio. But the good thing is how well we recover. Everybody showed grit and fight in the second half to rectify the mistakes we made in the first half.
”It was pleasing to see the team score five goals because it’s been a long time since we have seen any of our national teams score five goals in a single match. Hopefully it rubs off on the others.”
Mashaba will welcome the return of Gift Motupa up front after he served a one-match ban.
He wasn’t missed, Thabiso Kutumela doing a decent job playing behind centre forward Judas Moseamedi, who brings an aerial dimension to the attack.
Motupa’s advantage is his power, quick turn inside the box and powerful shot.”One of the best things about this team is the support we give one another, that brings out the best in each of us regardless of who plays,” Motupa said.
”I have a special bond with them because they took my game to another level.”I remember when we qualified for the Olympics in Senegal, I came there having seen little action at club level. But after I came back from there I played a number of games which helped raise my confidence.
”The coach here knows how to get the best out of me. It doesn’t matter where I play because I am used in midfield in my team but here as a striker.”
This tournament confirmed this team’s strength up front, which is still without inspirational captain Keagan Dolly, Lebo Mothiba of Lille and Brazil-based Tyroane Sandows, who is likely to travel with them to Japan next week.
That trip will see their preparations taken up a notch, against a Japanese side that will also be playing in the Olympics.That match is likely to see the 18-man squad coach Owen da Gama will take to Brazil start to take shape.
That’s why those on the fringes will be aiming to raise their hands by returning from Namibia as champions.
Saturday Star