Bafana, Boks step up and win SA love

Bafana, Boks – it is time for redemption. Truth be told, Bafana Bafana are their worst enemy.

That the team finds itself fighting for dear life at the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group is of their own doing.

We are not surprised that some of the fans told this newspaper this week that they were not interested in tomorrow’s game – and the slow sale of tickets says it all.

We ask ourselves: who would want to back players who party hard after a loss?

We are told this is what followed the 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde in Durban last month.

Players must first learn to respect the national team badge to be accorded the same favour from the fans, who by the way, are the paying customers.

It was sad listening to the players pleading for support the entire week, but what was missing to back up their pleas was the voice of the Safa leadership.

Safa president Danny Jordaan and some of his senior staff members were on tour overseas.

Much as we understand that their trip to La Liga headquarters in Spain had to do with business that would benefit our football in the long run, couldn’t they postpone the meeting?

Surely the Spaniards would have put the event on hold had Spain been in the same situation as Bafana, who are faced with the prospect of virtually playing in front of empty seats when they least needed the FNB Stadium orange seats as spectators.

We can’t really express our disappointment at the fact that Bafana face the possibility of elimination from the race to Russia 2018.

How on earth the team failed to gain a single point out of their back-to-back qualifiers against Cape Verde is beyond imagination.

It could have been different had they not lost to the islanders last month, as even the annulled qualifier against Senegal would not have affected SA as much it does now.

Much as we can’t turn on our own, we hope coach Stuart Baxter can turn the tables.

We also expect a better showing from the Springboks against the All Blacks tomorrow.

Clearly, there is no more room for error for Bafana and the Boks to endear themselves to the nation again.