Win did wonders for confidence

Ithink Bafana Bafana’s win on Saturday against the Seychelles was more about them playing well than about the poor standard of the opposition. The difficulty when you play a team of a low standard is that as a player you can be reduced to their level.

It was important that Bafana never got sucked down to the level of the Seychelles. They knew there was a job to be done, and they got three goals in the first half, and three in the second. That shows you they had prepared well for this match.

Stuart Baxter and his technical team did their homework, they knew the Seychelles would sit back, and it is not always easy to pierce seven or eight defenders, sometimes you must resort to the long ball.

The first couple of goals came from long crosses into the box, and with the assistance of the own-goal it opened the floodgates, and from there we managed to penetrate at will.

I do think it is the confidence-boost Bafana needed. You can’t be too flattered by beating the Seychelles 6-0, but the job was nevertheless done.

For me, Lebo Mothiba was a breath of fresh air in the striking department.

The bonus for Lebo coming up against the Seychelles is that he got on the scoresheet, which is a good start to his competitive international career.

If Benni McCarthy in his prime had played against opposition of that class, I do think he would have stuck in four or five, but I am not taking anything away from Modiba’s performance.

The way he took his goal showed us he is playing at a very high level – the composure, he showed in the box, and his finish was top-notch.

He is able to play with his back to goal, or on the half-turn. I think Dino Ndlovu is better with his back to goal, Mothiba is more two-dimensional.

We had a lot of time on the ball in midfield, and Kamo Mokotjo and Dean Furman needed to be at their best because of the wet pitch.

We needed to have less touches on the ball and shift the defence, and we also needed to get the ball wide as quickly as possible.

I am a big fan of Aubrey Modiba, he can play in so many posi- tions that it makes him special, most of his passes are always forward. I was also impressed with Lebo Maboe, he uses the spaces just in front of the opposition’s defence, he was the bright spark in the first half.

I took my son to the Bafana match, hoping for good weather and lots of fans and to feel that vibe like when I was part of the squad. It was always an occasion then, something massive, but I don’t feel we have that with Bafana anymore.

The fact is that Bafana’s results have deteriorated and that results in an empty stadium. The weather did play a massive part. If the weather had been better, we could have had 10 000 people there, but even 10 000 in a massive stadium like FNB is poor. We need to start winning more matches so we can get more bums on seats.

I think the game today in the Seychelles will be a bit more difficult, but I do not see South Africa, especially high in confidence and with a proper squad, not coming away with three points. We don’t need to score six, let’s get two or three, manage the game and come home with the points.