Igesund upbeat ahead of do-or-die clashes for Bafana
June is shaping to be most crucial month of my career, says coach
HE WAS a distinguished goal-scorer in both South African and Austrian premier leagues during his playing career, and as a coach he holds the unique record of helping four different clubs win the PSL title.
But in spite of all the accolades and plaudits from his past, Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund said yesterday: “June is shaping to be the most important month of my soccer career.” The implications are stark. Without a fair measure of success in qualifying games against the Central African Republic (CAR) at Yaounde in Cameroon on Saturday, June 8, and Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on Sunday, June 16, the prospect of SA competing in next year’s World Cup in Brazil could be dead.
“The next couple of weeks not only loom as a massive challenge for me, but for the soccer-mad country as a whole,” Igesund said.
“Imagine being confronted with the prospect that the earliest Bafana could participate in a World Cup would be a distant 2018 in the middle of this year already.”
For all this, Igesund characteristically remains optimistic about going forward to the second 2014 World Cup qualifying stages later in the year.
“The main thing is that our fate remains in our own hands, and we are not reliant on the results of other countries,” the Bafana coach said.
“If we beat CAR, Ethiopia and Botswana in our remaining opening group qualifying matches, it’s a pretty certain bet we will be making the second qualifying round from which the remaining 10 teams will play for the five World Cup positions designated for Africa.”
But Igesund admits that Bafana are in a precarious position after the team dropped four important points in the two opening World Cup qualifying draws against Ethiopia (home) and Botswana (away). Both games took place before Igesund was appointed national team coach.
“It’s been like starting a 100m sprint 10m behind the rest of the runners,” Igesund said. “But we simply must make up the deficit.”
Another hurdle has emerged in the form of a long list of casualties, but the coach said despite the almost eerie epidemic of injuries to defenders the mood in the camp was high and the remaining were capable of doing the job.
Defenders Siyabonga Sangweni, Morgan Gould, Thabo Matlaba, Tsepo Masilela and Siboniso Gaxa, and holding midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi, have been ruled out of the CAR and Ethiopia matches.
Ruud Krol, a treble winner with Orlando Pirates two seasons ago, could return to SA to take over the vacant post at SuperSport United.
It has been reliably learnt that the Dutchman, who delivered the Premiership, Telkom Knockout and Nedbank Cup for the Buccaneers, but whose contract was not extended, is the favourite to replace long-serving coach Gavin Hunt.
SuperSport yesterday agreed to Hunt’s request to leave the side despite still having two years of his contract remaining.
The Pretoria-based team is already looking ahead.
“SuperSport is looking at two coaches, one of them is Dutch and won the treble with Pirates and the other is a local coach that has just done well with a PSL club this season,” a source said.
It is understood that Platinum Stars’ Cavin Johnson is the local coach who is tipped to join Krol on the short list to be submitted to the board of directors at SuperSport over the next few weeks. But Krol, also a former Holland international defender, is the first choice.
Wits named Gavin Hunt as their new head coach yesterday, just minutes after SuperSport announced that he had parted ways with the Pretoria outfit. “We are delighted to have been able to secure the services of Gavin Hunt as our head coach,” Wits CE Jose Ferreira said.
“He has an impressive CV, not only with SuperSport United, but with every other club he has coached prior to that.”
Ferreira thanked Clive Barker for the “remarkable” work he had done with the Students side over the past five months of the season. With Mazola Molefe, Sapa