‘It will be blood, sweat and tears’
Sibongiseni Gumbi
Anation’s dreams lie in the hands of Bafana Bafana as they take on Senegal’s Teranga Lions in a 2018 World Cup qualifier at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane at 7pm this evening. Only a win will keep Bafana in the running for a place in Russia next year.
If they can beat Senegal tonight and in Dakar on Tuesday, South Africa will qualify for the World Cup finals. With any other set of results, they will not.
Dean Furman – who could be handed the captain’s armband with both Thulani Hlatshwayo and his deputy Itumeleng Khune doubtful for tonight’s match – promised the team would fight with everything they have to keep the dream alive.
“We know what’s at stake. It is our dream, a nation’s dream to be at the World Cup. And we will absolutely do everything to be there,” he said.
“This is the kind of game for which you work hard at your club to ensure you get called up. It is games like this that you have to show up. We know we can be a big team on the continent and it is such games that take you there.”
Inasmuch as they respect their opponents, Furman said the tendency to overhype opposition teams needs to stop. “In this country we tend to get quite excited by our opposition and forget what we’ve got in our own ranks. I have seen that in our Caf Confederation Cup experience when we play the so-called giants of Africa and we talk about them as being superstars and forget what we have in our own ranks.
“Don’t get me wrong, Senegal have top players who play for top teams in Europe, but I believe we can match anyone on our day. It was no different when we went to Nigeria (Bafana won a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier there in June) and we were told of certain players and how big a player each of them was.
“We can’t forget what we have. And if we play to our potential, we are up for anyone on the continent,” said Furman.
He added that he hopes the fans will be out in full force so they can feed off their energy. “We all know the pressure is on. We have been in such situations before.
“We know we can win this one, we can take it to Senegal and if we win there, we are in. It is a nice position to be in, we obviously would love to be in a better position in the group but it is in our hands now.”
Thulani Serero let his country down badly this week, refusing a call-up for the qualifiers against Senegal, according to coach Stuart Baxter, because he wanted to be guaranteed game time. One wonders what was going through the mind of the Vitesse Arnhem midfielder, if he did indeed make such a demand. The only explanation is that he simply doesn’t want to play for his country, and by making such a ridiculous request, he knows he will probably not be selected again. Either way, to snub Bafana on the eve of two crucial games shows an appalling attitude and perhaps also hints at why Ajax Amsterdam chose to leave Serero out of their squad.
“He gave the indication to Barney (Kujane, Bafana’s team manager), that if he is not going to play he does not want to come to camp. This is a national team and not a club, this is not a place where we can guarantee people places. If he does not feel that it’s an honour enough to be called to the national team camp, then he may as well stay where he is. Whether that’s permanent or not, I don’t know,” – Bafana coach Stuart Baxter on Thulani Serero’s decision to snub his Bafana Bafana call-up.