Johannesburg - Although he has scant knowledge of Mauritania, Shakes Mashaba believes Bafana Bafana will get their maiden maximum points of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier this weekend.
Bafana fly out to the North- West African country today for their second match in Group L of the qualification rounds for the biennial, continental showpiece scheduled for Gabon in a little under two years’ time.
Having been held goalless by Gambia in their opening qualification match, the South Africans are under pressure to get off the mark at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Mashaba is fully aware of the importance of success this weekend and speaks confidently about his team’s chances of inflicting on Mauritania their second loss of the campaign.
“This is a must-win match for us,” Mashaba said. “You hear people saying this puts pressure on the team, what pressure?
“You have pressure in your house when you’re eating dinner. You ask yourself, ‘if I don’t finish, the madam will ask where did I eat?’ So you work hard to finish the plate. There’s always pressure in football.”
The pressure to beat a Mauritania team that lost their first match 1-0 in Cameroon will be amplified by the fact they are somewhat of an unknown entity for Bafana.
“We’ve done our homework. We’ve searched, but what we have is their previous records, how they played.
“What has made us aware that they are not a team to take lightly is the result they came with from Cameroon, they went there and lost just 1-0.”
That the Indomitable Lions only got their goal late in the match tells Mashaba that Mauritania are a decent side that could be even more difficult to beat in their own backyard – results prior to that one notwithstanding.
“If you go far back you will find that there are games they’ve lost 7-0 and 3-0. But we don’t want to take that into our minds because it’s sort of going to make us to be complacent.
“We know they are not going to be an easy side to play. We’ve got to take them and give them the respect that they deserve.”
The respect for the opposition aside, Mashaba is still confident of returning home with the three points. And his confidence is not without basis, the Bafana coach believing that his side are more comfortable on the road than they are at home.
This much they showed when they qualified for this year’s tournament after going unbeaten in their away matches – including a draw that could easily have been a win in Nigeria.
“I’ve indicated sometime before that we prefer playing away now,” Mashaba said. “There are no pressures playing away. You know you have to go fight against the odds where the crowd are for the home team. You are all by yourself there, with your kit managers and everybody.”
As it is, he believes that the previous notion that homeground provides advantage no longer exists. “Modern trends of football show that teams are doing well away from home. If you look at most of the teams, their best results are best when they are away,” Mashaba said.
But the national coach will have to lead Bafana to victory over the “closed book” that is Mauritania to confirm what he is saying is the truth.
Meanwhile, Thulani Serero arrived in camp yesterday and was assessed by the Bafana medical team and declared fit to play.
This after the player’s club, Ajax Amsterdam, had written a letter to SAFA saying Serero was injured; they had even sent through a scan.
But the attacking midfielder trained with the national squad yesterday and will travel to Mauritania.
However, Kaizer Chiefs left back Tsepo Masilela has not reported for camp and is apparently in the US. - Cape Times