Why so many defensive midfielders?
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I was part of the team which came close to qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and, unfortunately, we lost out to Ghana but this time it’s not like back then. Now it’s more than important that we qualify for the next World Cup after we saw the Springboks winning the Rugby World Cup in France and the cricket Proteas team reaching the semi-finals. All our national teams are doing well and this puts pressure on Bafana Bafana to do well, we can’t look at Cricket and Rugby, who are putting this country on the map, and then fail to qualify. It’s a must that we qualify. These games, against Benin and Rwanda, will be tricky and we cannot take them for granted, it’s important that we get off to a good start. In the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, we needed at least a draw away to Ghana and a win at home, and we lost both matches. The squad selected for the matches against Benin and Rwanda is very good, but it’s a pity that Sipho Chaine has been injured. Sipho has been doing well for Orlando Pirates and if he wasn’t injured, I would have selected him. I love Veli Mothwa, but when you look at his team conceding so many goals, how do you justify selecting him in the national team? Mothwa is conceding almost every other game and now you put him in the national team? How do you justify that? Yes, he did well in the COSAFA Cup and we are happy for him, but when you look at him in other matches, he has not been playing well. We have to consider looking at other goalkeepers. This is a national team and not a club.
We need to look at other goalkeepers and how they are performing. Look at where AmaZulu FC are on the log and how many goals they have conceded. I like him because he, out of nowhere, did very well in the COSAFA Cup, but now we are looking forward. Ricardo Goss is doing well for SuperSport United and Melusi Buthelezi is doing well at Pirates, and that is what we want to see.
On players selected in defence and midfield
In defence, Khuliso Mudau should be our first-choice right back ahead of Nyiko Mobbie. The coach always selects Mobbie based on what he saw of him at club level, but for me, our first choice should be Mudau. Mobbie, for me, is doing well but not for the national team. I also believe that Stellenbosch FC’s Deano van Rooyen is doing well and can fit into that position if he can get a chance. He knows when to go up and when to stay at the back – that is what you must look at when selecting players in that position. Mobbie is playing well at Sekhukhune United, but the national team is a different ball game. I don’t have a problem with the centre-backs and left back positions, I’m sure we will pick the right players who will do a good job. In midfield, the coach will see who to select next to Teboho Mokoena, but Mokoena has to start. We have Jayden Adams, Sibongiseni Mthethwa and Sphephelo Sithole – but why do we need so many defensive midfielders when we are trying to win matches? Basically, what this means is that we have to rely on the front three players to create and score goals. The front three players will need support from midfielders. This will force Themba Zwane to work overtime as an attacker and creative midfielder. He will have to drop into midfield and that will be too much. It seems as if we can’t protect Zwane in terms of being in the right position when we need him.
On the absence of Foster owing to a mental health issue
Due to Lyle Foster’s absence, we won’t have a choice but to play Evidence Makgopa, who replaced Lebo Mothiba, as a centre-forward; Zwane and Percy Tau can come from each side of the flank. They will need to cut inside and open spaces for our fullbacks to overlap – that is what we can do. That will give us more options when attacking. If the coach wants to use three defensive midfielders, that is fine, but he must give a licence to the fullbacks to go up the field and attack. When the fullbacks go up, those two defensive midfielders can cover those positions. But we will definitely miss Foster, I’m not going to lie. Foster is our top striker and it’s unfortunate that we won’t have him as we need him. He is doing well in his team and been doing well in the past games for the national team. We are really going to miss him.
On capitalising on home advantage against Benin
When we play at home, we need to use all the advantages that we have in order to win. Look what Mamelodi Sundowns did when they were playing in African Football League, they knew that Wydad Casablanca are from North Africa, next to the ocean, and they play their home matches at night. Sundowns played Wydad in Pretoria at 15h00 when the sun was hot. Wydad couldn’t play in those conditions, they couldn’t breathe. And that is why there is a reason you must use home advantage. In Rwanda, we all know that it’s dry and hot, we need to play against them in Cape Town at night when it’s windy. These are the conditions that they are not used to. Another issue CAF needs to look at is implementing VAR in World Cup qualifiers. We can clearly see that now VAR plays a very important role in matches.