Tricky selection for Mashaba
BAFANA Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba admits to a tricky selection headache as he seeks to restore public confidence during the friendly against Angola in Cape Town today, but also has one eye on Saturday’s African Nations Championship qualifier against Mauritius.
Mashaba will only be able to field a locally based squad for the weekend game – that is all the competition allows – and so it would seem logical he would pick players for the Angola clash along those lines.
But with public confidence hitting a new low following the 0-0 draw with Gambia in Durban at the weekend, which made for a disappointing start to the 2017 African Nations Cup qualifiers, Mashaba is keen to field his big guns again.
“It is tricky for us. I can only say that we will see some changes, but not a lot,” Mashaba said. “This Angola game is difficult because while we want to use it to look ahead to our next Nations Cup qualifier [in Mauritania in September], we have the Mauritius game on the weekend too.”
Mashaba said the squad had “dealt” with the disappointment of the weekend result and were now only looking forward.
“It is now history. We have spoken to the players about it and they have shown a willingness to make amends in the coming game [against Angola]. In terms of the mood in the camp, it is OK.”
He also suggested there had been an overreaction to the disappointing draw with Gambia. “It is most unfortunate that people get so discouraged if the results are not going our way, but we know we can put it right.”
Mashaba also backed his players to find their scoring boots after missing a number of chances against Gambia.
“If you look at training [yesterday], we scored three or four beautiful goals in the game we played. So we have it in us. Will that translate onto the match day . . . we cannot say.”
Mashaba said he thought Angola would be a stern test.
“We know what to expect from them. They will be physical and good competition for us.”
Bafana will give a late fitness test to Oupa Manyisa, who missed training yesterday after going off against Gambia, but Mashaba was hopeful.
The squad for the clash with Mauritius is expected to be announced today.