Egypt do-or-die for Shakes

Friendly Mandela Challenge has taken on the status of must-win for Mashaba following Bafana’s dismal failure in the Afcon qualifiers

TONIGHT’S Nelson Mandela Challenge match between Bafana Bafana and Egypt quickly lost the friendly tag following yet another disappointing result by the national team i n Nelspruit last week. The 1-1 st a l e m a t e ag a i n s t l o w l y Mauritania in the final qualifier for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) now means the Egypt game has taken on on a must-win status.

What was actually a dead-rubber and pretty much a non-event, Bafana having long known their gruesome fate of not being able to participate in the Afcon to be held in Gabon, opened up a fresh debate on whether coach Shakes Mashaba should continue in his post as South Africa attempt to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Danny Jordaan, the SA Football Association (Safa) president and Mashaba’s boss, tightened the screws with a post-match TV inter- THE MULTICHOICE Diski Challenge (MDC) helped Nduduzo Sibiya fast-track two milestones; cement a place in Golden Arrows’ first team and go abroad for the first time. As MDC winners last season, Sibiya and his Abafana Bes’thende teammates spent eight days in Netherlands. There they played against PEC Zwolle, FC Twente and FC Den Bosch and also trained at the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) headquarters in Utrecht under the watchful eye of view that suggested the coach had a lot of questions to answer. The draw against Mauritania, who finished the game with 10-men, was simply unacceptable.

Mashaba would have gone into tonight’s clash against Egypt at Orlando Stadium a bit more relaxed if his men had secured a convincing victory on Friday night, but this game will now invite his critics as well as backers to watch closely. The coachmighthaveevenhadtheluxury to appease his Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart Pitso Mosimane by releasing the five players the Brazilians coach argued deserved a break from international duty given the club’s congested schedule both in the domestic league and on the continent.

Without pre-empting Mashaba’s future, tonight’s match is one of extreme significance in his tenure as Bafana coach. He believes he is still the man to take the national team forward and all the way to the World Cup – and he might very well be. But his boss didn’t sound convinced last week. Jordaan will again be sitting in the Orlando Stadium suites, probably with his fellow Safa national executive committee members giving each other the side-eye throughout the 90 minutes. They want to see good football, a gutsy performance, and, most importantly, a coach who knows what he is doing.

The qualifiers for the World Cup begin early next month with a trip to Burkina Faso and it would seem foolish to sack Mashaba so close to the start of the journey to the global showpiece. However, that does not mean the coach is secure in his hot seat at the moment having blundered, in his own admission, in preparing for the Afcon qualifiers.

Mashaba needs to find that spark again, that one which saw him guide Bafana to the 2015 Afcon at a can- ter, unbeaten and dishing out performances that included bullying then reigning champions Nigeria by finishing top of the group. He was peeved last week that his detractors keep harping on about his failure to guide the national team to Gabon next year, forgetting that he was able to mastermind qualification for the previous edition of the continental tournament without his bosses asking him to do so. He dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the weekend, but Egypt offers him an opportunity for redemption and – possibly – job security.

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THE MTN8 semi-final clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Chippa United could turn out to be the match of the tournament.

The duel, played over two legs, pits two teams playing the best football in the PSL at the moment.

Equally, on the bench two of local football’s astute brains will be out to outdo each other. Sundowns’ Pitso Mosimane and Chippa’s Dan Malesela are among the best coaches the country has produced.

While in Mosimane’s case there’s overwhelming evidence that he is one of the best coaches on the local scene with a plethora of accolades to his name, it may be difficult to justify Malesela’s billing as a top coach. However, if the purity of football is to be taken into consideration, then there’s no iota of doubt that Malesela is one of the best. Malesela has, in a very short space of time, transformed Chippa into a formidable side in the PSL.

Prior to his arrival, Chippa were relegation candidates but the former Orlando Pirates and Sundowns captain has since elevated them into a top eight team. Last season Chippa, who play enterprising and attacking football characterized by flair, skill and crisp passing, put on solid performances humbling big teams such as Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Platinum Stars.

Even before the start of the season, Mosimane identified Malesela’s team as this season’s dark horses and the signs are there already.

“Chippa will be a very big surprise this year. They have kept the coach and they have kept the players. They had a lot of wins last season. There is a lot of calmness about them in terms of the coach and the management, I see them doing very well in my opinion. Dan believes in total football. I don’t know if he has the right personnel to play that kind of football. You want to play like Barcelona but Enrique has Messi, Neymar and Iniesta.”

So far Malesela has Thami Sangweni, Thembikosi Lorch, Rhulani Manzini, Menzi Masuku, Vuyani Sali, Marc van Heerden and others doing the job for him. They eliminated Stars to make the semi-finals of the MTN8 with relative ease. When Sundowns visit them at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday afternoon, it will be a clash of high tempo football, propelled by individual brilliance, against calm, cool and collected football instigated by the collective.

Sundowns have not lost to Chippa since the latter’s promotion to the PSL and this might be a source of motivation for both teams on the day. With Mosimane and Malesela, former teammates at Sundowns, manning the bench, expect explosives.

The evening before would have seen Bidvest Wits take on Cape Town City FC at Bidvest Stadium. It’s also a big game for Wits coach Gavin Hunt, who is in his fourth season with Wits. Since his arrival Wits, despite spending a fortune in transfers, have not won a single trophy. Hunt is under enormous pressure to win something.

With just three rounds of matches to play, the MTN8 is one of the easiest tournaments to win. Hunt has assembled a team that has what it takes to can lay their hands on the trophy.

His Cape Town City counterpart Eric Tinkler, a great footballer in his day, has also sustained several bruises as a coach. He will want to redeem himself by leading his side to glory.

On paper Wits should have no qualms negotiating their way to the final. However, since football is unpredictable, all teams will have to knuckle down for victory.

That the semi-finals are played over two legs gives an opportunity for teams to work on various strategies in terms of tactics.