Mashaba finally shakes things up
DESPERATE to arrest his team’s frailties in front of goal, Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba yesterday sprang a major surprise in naming Dutch-born striker Lars Veldwijk in a 25-man squad to face Senegal in a 2018 World Cup qualifier next month.
Veldwijk qualifies for Bafana because his father was born in South Africa. Earlier this year, he announced his interest in pursuing his international career with Bafana.
The 25-year-old has played for FC Volendam, FC Utrecht, FC Dordrecht, Excelsior and PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands, and Nottingham Forest in England before joining KV Kortrijk in Belgium this season.
According to Mashaba, he has always been aware of Veldwijk’s ambition, and has now decided to offer him the opportunity. “I have been monitoring him since he was playing for Nottingham Forest,” said Mashaba. “He is a big boy, strong and he can hold the ball. Maybe he can offer us something if he makes the lineup.”
Bafana face Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on November 12 (3pm kickoff), and the importance of the fixture cannot be stressed enough. In a difficult group – the other two countries are Burkina Faso and Cape Verde – they kicked off with an away draw against the Burkinabe earlier this month.
And this is why, as Mashaba admits, the home clash against Senegal is crucial. Only the group winner secures a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“We went to Burkina Faso and came back with a point, even though I felt that we could have won it,” Mashaba said. “But now that we are playing at home, no other result than a win will do. The most important way to keep your chances alive in the qualifiers is to win all your home games. If you do that, half the job is done.
“Mamelodi Sundowns are a good example. Today, they are the kings of Africa because they made sure they took the three points at home and then tried to win away, and if not, just a point would do. In this qualifying programme, just one loss could set us back in a very big way.”
In addition to the Veldwijk surprise, Mashaba has also recalled defender Rivaldo Coetzee and included goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and winger Daine Klate. Coetzee missed the two previous Bafana games – the qualifier against Burkina Faso and a friendly with Ghana – due to injury.
Williams and Klate, though, are long overdue. Their absence from the national set-up has always been a bit of a mystery, but their recent form has forced the Bafana coach to alter his thinking.
Others who have battered down the selection door because they are in such fine fettle at the moment are rightback Asavela Mbekile, striker Bradley Grobler and winger Thuso Phala.
“A win is very crucial because it will see us at the top of the group this early and everything will be in our hands going forward,” Mashaba added. “The challenge with losing points is that you play catch up, which puts you under a lot of pressure and, before you know it, the qualifiers are finished. So it is important that we wrestle the leadership now, so that we are in a commanding place going into the halfway stage next year.”