Bafana’s road to 2018 Cup begins
First group game in Burkina Faso in October
SOUTH Africa will have a difficult start and finish to their 2018 Fifa World Cup pool phase qualification with punishing trips to West Africa. Bafana Bafana have been drawn in Group D alongside Senegal‚ Burkina Faso and Cape Verde Islands‚ a lineup that does give them hope of finishing top of the pool and winning a place at the finals in Russia.
They begin the campaign in Burkina Faso during the week starting October 3‚ with the exact date of the game still to be determined.
They travelled to Ouagadougou in 2001 for a World Cup qualifier and came away with a point after Sibusiso Zuma had given them the lead.
But they were back to the Fourth of August Stadium four years later for another World Cup preliminary and went down 3-1‚ despite Zuma getting on the scoresheet again.
A month later in the week starting November 7‚ Bafana will host Senegal at home in their second qualifier.
What follows is a break of almost 10 months in the qualifiers‚ with their third game only at the end of August next year.
That is when they travel to the Estadio Varzea in Praia to meet Cape Verde Islands.
Their one and only previous visit came in the 2006 World Cup preliminaries as two goals inside the opening 13 minutes from Benni McCarthy and Delron Buckley handed Bafana a 2-1 win. They will host Cape Verde a month later in September next year‚ before entertaining Burkina Faso in October of that year.
Their final qualifier will be away against Senegal in Dakar on the week starting November 6 next year‚ when they will hope to get the result that will see them win the group.
They first visited the Stade Leopold Sedar Senghor in Dakar for a friendly in 2004‚ but lost 2-1 despite a goal from Siyabonga Nomvethe. It remains their only visit to the West African nation.
South Africa’s successful campaign at the Cosafa Castle Cup saw the national side reach some new milestones.
The South African team‚ made up almost entirely of under-23 players‚ beat Botswana 3-2 in a controversial final played on Saturday.
That victory was their fourth in the Southern African championship‚ drawing them level with Zambia and Zimbabwe at the top of the all-time table.
They also kept up their 100% record in Cosafa Castle Cup finals having now defeated Malawi‚ Zambia and Mozambique in the decider.
Shakes Mashaba became the most successful coach in the competition’s history by leading the side to the trophy for the second time after successes in 2002 and now this year. He is the only coach to win twice. South Africa’s rampaging 5-1 victory over Swaziland in the semifinals was their 150th win in international football since readmission to Fifa in 1992.
Along with their victory in the final‚ they have now won 151 of their 343 international matches in the last 24 years. They have drawn 99 and lost 91. Gift Motupa’s first penalty in the final was also South Africa’s 200th goal away from home in international matches. They have conceded 208 in that time.
The five goals scored in the final are also the most in a deciding match for the Cosafa Castle Cup.
Motupa’s red card against Lesotho in the quarterfinal made him the 25th South African to be sent off in an international fixture.
Others are Doctor Khumalo, Eric Tinkler‚ Itumeleng Khune and Andile Jali.