Really the last chance
BAFANA STILL HOPE, BUT OTHER RESULTS MUST GO THEIR WAY Realistically, coach will be able to put his feet up next year.
While Nigeria, Egypt and Tunisia are all sitting pretty as clear-cut group leaders before next weekend’s continuation of World Cup qualifiers, Bafana Bafana are perched precariously by what can only be termed the skin of their teeth.
Should Stuart Baxter’s Bafana fail to beat Burkina Faso at FNB Stadium next Saturday – they need to win all three remaining qualifiers, including home-andaway ties against Senegal’s powerhouse to stand any chance of making it to the World Cup – they will kiss goodbye any chance of making it to Russia.
And it will certainly be a case of exiting from Russia with little love or sympathy from the country’s discerning football public, who have been clinging to the hope of South Africa securing a place at the World Cup finals through the qualifying procedure for the first time since 2002.
In contrast, Nigeria, Egypt and Tunisia could all cement their places at the 2018 World Cup after next weekend’s programme – and are indeed well-positioned to make their places as qualifying group leaders beyond reach before the final round of fixtures.
Interestingly, if Egypt end a frustrating absence of 28 years from World Cup final participation, legendary goalkeeper Essam el Hadary, who has represented his country at international level more than 150 times, would become the oldest player to participate at the game’s most august level.
Two of Africa’s perennial football giants, the Ivory Coast and Morocco, are pitted against each other to become the fourth of Africa’s five World Cup qualifiers, while Senegal, with their controversial defeat against Bafana now to be replayed after Fifa declared disgraced referee Joseph Lamptey, whom they banned for life, had played a role in manipulating the result, are favourites in an evenly-balanced group in which Bafana are in bottom place.
Ironically, Cameroon, the first African nation to reach the quarterfinal stage of a World Cup, are already eliminated from the race to Russia, while another African stalwart in the competition, Ghana, have only a slim chance of reaching the finals this time.
As for Bafana, coach Stuart Baxter is proclaiming “where there is life there is hope” and bidding to motivate his under-pressure players to adopt a similar dogged stance – starting, but hopefully not ending – with the game against Burkina Faso.