Sunday World (South Africa)

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- MAZOLA MOLEFE

THE five Ephraim Shakes Mashaba blunders at the Africa Cup of Nations: 1. Disregard for the opposition

At first Mashaba appeared fearless when he did not want to discuss Algeria, Ghana and Senegal in Bafana’s group of death”.

However, after the 3-1 defeat in the opener against the Desert Foxes, it was clear the coach, perhaps unknowingl­y, had played down the threat from the opposition by trying to focus more on his team’s strengths.

Bafana would probably not have conceded Senegal’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw had they neutralise­d goal scorer Kara Mbodji’s aerial threat. They knew he was the danger man in the air, yet not enough homework was done on how to deal with the threat he posed. 2. Bizarre goalkeeper rotation policy Mashaba wanted to give everyone a chance. Fair point, but coaches almost never sacrifice goalkeeper­s at major tournament­s, especially when the first choice [everyone thought Keet was the chosen one] isn’t too shabby. Bafana had three different voices commanding their already fragile defence, and it is no surprise they conceded six goals in three games.

What was Mashaba thinking really? 3. Parker effect Mashaba picked Bernard Parker knowing that the striker, with his experience, would deliver at the Afcon. But he’s not going to do that if you throw him in when your backs are against the wall and there’s hardly any time left.

A Rantie-Parker partnershi­p earlier on might have rescued Bafana’s campaign. 4. No set starting XI Mashaba did too much tweaking. He felt he needed to shake things up after losing the first match but there wasn’t much wrong with the team that he had sent out that night. Only four players Anele Ngcongca, Thabo Matlaba, Andile Jali and Dean Furman played every minute of every game. 5. Poor reaction Yes, Tokelo Rantie’s penalty miss against Algeria hurt the team and gave the opposition a way in. However, Mashaba’s opponent Christian Gourcuff made two substituti­ons before Thulani Hlatswayo’s own goal in the 67th minute to apply pressure and force Bafana to defend too deep. South Africa did not make a substituti­on until the 79th minute when Algeria were already in the lead. They scored again in the 83rd minute.

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