He was again booed by Bafana fans when he came on against Ghana, but Thamsanqa Gabuza still remains a firm favourite of coach Shakes Mashaba.
The Orlando Pirates striker was again included in the Bafana squad for the last two games against Burkina Faso and then Ghana on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.
This is despite the 29-year-old battling to get game time at his club. He has netted just twice in his last seven internationals, for an overall record of six goals in 15 games.
Gabuza was targeted by the “boo boys” when Mashaba introduced him in the 71st minute at the Moses Mabhida Stadium as a replacement for Sibusiso Vilakazi, who was one of the few stand-out players for South Africa and set up Ayanda Patosi’s goal.
The sparse crowd didn’t want Vilakazi to leave the scene and Gabuza to take the field, and their worse fears were realised when the latter missed a clear-cut chance to grab the winner in the 85th minute.
His striker partner Eleazar Rodgers supplied a terrific pass through the heart of the Ghanaian defence to put Gabuza into a gap with just the advancing goalkeeper to beat, but the Pirates man hoisted his effort over the top when it was probably easier to find the net.
“Some things become habit to people. Just because they boo you today, they boo you every day. There isn’t much that we can do, but I always cross my fingers that the players will deliver as expected. If you can score goals, then score. He (Gabuza) had a chance today, and if he had scored that one, some of his critics would’ve been made to eat humble pie,” Mashaba said.
“But we as technicians of football, we understand that there is a challenge and will keep working with him. Unfortunately, time waits for no one.”
That miss resulted in a 1-1 draw, but Mashaba believes the 29-year-old Gabuza made a difference and could start alongside Rodgers going forward, with the next encounter being a World Cup qualifier against Senegal on November 12 in Polokwane.
“If you look at Rodgers, he did very well – both first and second half. He was challenging, he was even defending at some stages. So we said, let’s look for another big guy (in Gabuza). If you look at Gabuza, those guys were not going forward anymore because they were worried about Gabuza,” the coach said.
“That was not the case in the first half and 15 minutes into the second, where the central defenders would carry the ball. As soon as we brought in Gabuza, they decided to stay back.
“But yes, we wanted to support Rodgers because we are looking at more flicks. The problem was that they didn’t work that well because of the (strong) wind – you try to play the long ball, but it drops behind you! But I think with time, that combination will pay dividends.”
Mashaba felt that the tough journey from Ouagadougou to Durban definitely played a role in a lacklustre first-half performance against Ghana, and said that the biggest concern is the way Bafana lost possession.
“Whenever we lose the ball, these guys got it back and attacked us. But again, there are a lot of things that we learned – the most important is that when we lose the ball, we find ourselves watching. It’s difficult to regain possession,” he said.
“But it was a good game and Ghana came here prepared to win the game. We also could’ve won the game – we should’ve scored the goal. One of our strikers (Gabuza) had a chance, but he lacked composure to finish.
“In the first half, we were not marking Burkina Faso and allowed them space and time, running off the ball. And it was the same against Ghana. My biggest worry and the technical staff is that we don’t know how we are going to solve it. We don’t know how to pick up those runners.
“Also, we need to make sure we need to bury those chances. Show composure and big heart.”
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@ashfakmohamed