Finish the job, Bafana
Shakes warns against complacency
DESPITE taking a healthy lead into Tuesday’s second leg World Cup qualifier, Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba says they can’t afford complacency.
Angola were beaten 3-1 in their Ombaka National Stadium on Friday, but showed glimpses of brilliance — and they could hurt Mashaba’s men at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.
“Angola are strong. For them to catch us on a counter and score shows that they are a good team,” Mashaba said. “They know how to switch from defence to attack very quickly. That’s how they scored their goal.
“We need to guard against that when we play them in the second leg. As soon as we lose the ball we have to defend in numbers.”
Bafana showed character, coming back after conceding a goal in two minutes to hand Angola a first World Cup qualifier home defeat in 22 years.
Tokelo Rantie, Thamsanqa Gabuza and Andile Jali scored to help the visitors to another impressive away victory.
Should they finish the job in Durban, Bafana will be one of 20 African countries divided into five groups of four.
The five teams that top the groups will be African representatives in Russia.
In the past Bafana players would have dropped their heads after conceding an early goal away from home, but this side fought back and the response was fantastic.
“From the time we were in Costa Rica and Honduras we told ourselves that we cannot lose any games. Because if we lose now then we have to wait another four years to try to qualify for the World Cup,” Mashaba said after the victory.
“We conceded a goal when we did not expect it to happen, but the boys showed character to come back. That’s the most special thing. At times we will say let’s equalise and hold back, but we equalised and we kept on going. We created many chances and we took them. I am happy we finished the chances.”
A big concern for Mashaba ahead of the return leg is the unavailability of midfield kingpin Andile Jali, who was sent off for his celebration which triggered violent scenes as fans threw bottles at him and the rest of the Bafana squad.
With his finger on his lip, Jali ran to the corner flag after putting away his penalty, but the locals were not impressed.
SuperSport United captain Dean Furman looks set to replace Jali in midfield and play alongside Bongani Zungu, who had a good game in a deep midfield role before he was taken off in the second period.
Furman would be ready to step in should Mashaba call on him to play in that holding role.
“It was a tough game. We made it difficult for ourselves when we conceded the goal, but the boys showed how good we can be. We know the game in Durban will be tough but hopefully we can get the job done,” the midfielder said.
Scorer of the second goal, Gabuza, showed just how much he loves playing on the continent when he calmly picked his spot to give Bafana the lead.
Domestically Gabuza is shooting blanks but he’s unstoppable on the continent, for Bafana or Orlando Pirates.
“The coach believed in us and told us to be strong. We scored two goals (in the first half) and we won. (But) it’s not over. They have a good team but we will work hard to finish the game. We want a good result,” the former Golden Arrows striker said.
Gabuza has got two goals in as many matches against Angola this year and he will be itching to score again on Tuesday.
Mashaba was also struck by a bottle on the head.
But the Bafana mentor walked out of the press conference room with a wide smile and was even happy to show where the bottle thrown by a fan struck him as irate Palancas Negras followers rained missiles on the pitch.
What mattered to him was the big win for a Bafana side that had come under fire for winning more friendly matches than competitive ones.
In the past Bafana would have dropped their heads but this side fought back