Having broken their scoring duck on home soil, Bafana Bafana will tonight strive to end yet another hoodoo when they take on Nigeria in the final African Cup of Nations qualifying match in Uyo.
The South African senior national team booked their spot at the 16-team tournament to be hosted by Equatorial Guinea when they finally won a home match with Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Sudan in Durban.
Prior to that match, Shakes Mashaba’s team had played goalless draws in both their home clashes against Nigeria and Congo-Brazzaville, leaving the coach worried about his team’s profligacy in front of goal.
But when he left for Nigeria on Monday, Mashaba was cock-a-hoop, confident in his team’s ability to break the opposition defence and expecting Bafana to finally beat the Super Eagles in a competitive match. In their 10 matches against their nemesis, Bafana have only won once, the victory coming in the friendly Nelson Mandela Challenge.
“We can always hope for the better,” Mashaba said “I’m very happy that we scored two goals at home but what will make me even happier is to get those two goals against Nigeria.”
For them to breach the Nigerian defence though, Bafana will need better finishing than the one that saw Bongani Ndulula miss a sitter at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. The AmaZulu striker will have to live up to his Drogba moniker and finish like the deadly Ivory Coast marksman to add to the two goals he has netted in the qualifying matches so far.
And then Tokelo Rantie, his strike partner, must show the kind of deft finishing that saw him slot home the second goal after Thulani Serero had opened up the scoring with his maiden Bafana strike.
“Beating Nigeria will bring back the confidence of people in Bafana Bafana,” Mashaba said, the fact that the squad has already earned huge respect by qualifying, notwithstanding “It will bring us dignity and the respect of the African continent.”
More than that though, Mashaba is keen to have Bafana finish the qualifying round unbeaten, so they can send a message to the rest of the continent that they’ll be a force at next year’s biennial, continental showpiece.
“We’re not going there to add to the numbers,” he said of their participation at the tournament. “We’re going there to compete and besides, South Africa are always the team to beat. And by winning we will let the others know we mean business.”
Easier said than done though, especially with Nigeria going into the match under pressure to win if they are to have a chance to defend the title they won in South Africa last year.
Placed second with seven points, Stephen Keshi’s team cannot afford a slip-up as that would likely allow Congo-Brazzaville – who are also on seven points – to sneak into second spot and book automatic qualification. The Congolese are favourites to grab maximum points away to bottom-dwellers and already eliminated Sudan and the Super Eagles thus have all the pressure on them.
Mashaba believes Bafana can capitalise on that but says they will have to be much tighter on the wings where their hosts will be more dangerous.
“They have two good wingers that we will have to be wary of if we’re not to be punished.”
But, Mashaba believes it is the Bafana attackers that Nigeria must worry about – their win at the weekend having given them confidence that they can finally beat the Super Eagles in a competitive match. - The Star