Grobler ‘extremely disappointed’ for missing such a big opportunity

WHEN Senegal and Burkina Faso drew their 2018 World Cup qualifier a day after South Africa lost to Cape Verde at the weekend, there might have been a collective sigh of relief across the country, but in the Bafana Bafana camp striker Bradley Grobler was disappointed.

He was down because SA had lost an opportunity to go top of the Group D standings following their 2-1 upset in Praia, and the goalless result in Dakar 24 hours later. Had Grobler and company banked full points then Bafana would have been smiling, two points clear at the summit.

Instead, they go into the return leg with Cape Verde at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium tonight (7pm kickoff) occupying third position. The start of the second half of the qualifying campaign for Russia 2018 offers Bafana a shot at redemption, one which the SuperSport United forward is determined to grab.

“I’m extremely disappointed, especially after the result in Senegal,” said Grobler.

“It was a big opportunity to make our mark on the group. We missed our opportunity and we’ve got to learn from it; we all know it was not our best performance. The artificial pitch could have played a bit of a part (in the performance) but to be honest I think everyone is professional and played on artificial pitches many times, so we’re not going to make that an excuse. On the day we could have been five percent better, and I think we would have won the game, so I’m not going to blame the pitch at all.”

He was optimistic the team would bounce back, even though this is expected to be a vastly revamped unit.

Central defender Clayton Daniels is expected to slot in next to captain Thulani Hlatshwayo after Eric Mathoho was sent off in the second half against Cape Verde. The other option is for veteran Morgan Gould to link with his club mate Hlatshwayo.

“No doubt this game is huge. It comes after a bad result and we want to rectify that. We had a good meeting and the guys are still in good spirits. We have a good enough squad. We have to go out and win the rest of the games, that’s the plan. We believe in ourselves, and I believe if we were five to 10 percent better on the day the last result could have been a lot different. Coming back home we’ll give our best and definitely go out to win the game,” Grobler added.

Should he play, Grobler can expect greater supply, with Baxter likely to field attacking midfielder Thulani Serero. The Netherlands-based player arrived in camp with a hamstring niggle, which kept him out of the first match as a precautionary measure, revealed Baxter.

Friday’s victory by Cape Verde was their first against Bafana. Nuno Rocha’s double strike in the first half cancelled out Tokelo Rantie’s opener for Baxter’s men, and earned the islanders their first goals and points in the group. SA: Ronwen Williams, Tebogo Langerman, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Thulani Hlatshwayo (c), Dean Furman, Bongani Zungu, Keagan Dolly, Themba Zwane, Lebogang Manyama, Tokelo Rantie, Reyaad Pieterse, Wayne Sandilands, Clayton Daniels, Morgan Gould, Abbubaker Mobara, Sifiso Hlanti, Hlompho Kekana, Andile Jali, Kamohelo Mokotjo, Daylon Claasen, Percy Tau, Bradley Grobler, Kermit Erasmus, Thulani Serero Cape Verde: Vozinha, Stopira, Ponck, Vally Monteiro, Babanco, Marco Soares (c), Nuno Rocha, Wuilito Fernandes, Ryan Mendes, Julio Tavares, Tiago Almeida, Márcio Rosa, Platini, Jamiro Monteiro, Ricardo Gomes, Nuno Da Costa, Admar Almeida, Jimmy Ines, Steven Pereira, Danilson da Cruz