Hoping for some light relief

THE PAIN of having watched Brazil 2014 from the sidelines still lingers for South Africa. And for a country that purports to be a footballing nation, sitting out an- other World Cup is out of the question. It is for this reason Bafana Bafana’s Russia 2018 qualifying clash with Senegal in Polokwane this afternoon is regarded as highly significant. Safa president Danny Jordaan has apparently had a quiet word with coach Shakes Mashaba, mak- ing him understand why nothing less than victory will do. Not that Mashaba needed reminding. Senegal tops the group on three points while Bafana have one. A win for the Lions of Teranga would make it near impossible for South Africa to top the group and get that solitary World Cup spot at the end of the qualifiers. Murmurs are that such a result would see Mashaba being shown the door. He is not the only South African national team coach under pressure. Springbok boss Allistair Coetzee has had a pretty poor start to his stint at the helm of the national rugby side, with a wretch- ed Rugby Championship campaign. He leads the squad against England at Twick- enham this afternoon banking on the Boks’ good record of not having lost to their opponents in the last 12 matches. But England are coached by Eddie Jones, the man who masterminded the Boks’ shock defeat to Japan at the recent World Cup. If things look gloomy for these two national sides, the same cannot be said of their cricket counterparts who are in action against Australia in Hobart. The Proteas are on a great high, having won the first Test last week on the back of an in- credible 5-0 ODI series whitewash of the Aussies. In the gloomy aftermath of the US elections along with heavy downpours that claimed some lives in Gauteng, the country is looking to our na- tional teams to bring some cheer with success in their respective big matches.