Rivaldo Coetzee must be reminded of home, in the Northern Cape, when he revisits Bafana Bafana’s match against Mauritania in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers where the defence had a gaping opening, bigger than Kimberley’s Big Hole.
The Mauritanians exploited that, resulting in Bafana Bafana suffering their most embarrassing defeat, a 3-1 drubbing, in coach Shakes Mashaba’s tenure. A notable absentee in that backline was Thulani “Tyson” Hlatshwayo who missed out on the match because of a groin strain. The tough defender admitted, in his return from that injury in September, that he didn’t enjoy watching Bafana Bafana being carved open by the minnows.
“It was a sad thing, seeing how the guys played,” Hlatshwayo said.
“The defending wasn’t that proper. But we all know the qualities that they have. It was just lapses of concentration and Mauritania managed to take advantage of the situation. Going forward we have to be positive because we have shown what we can do in the past.”
They can erase those memories with a good display against Angola tomorrow in Benguela at Ombaka National Stadium. Sorting out the defence was among Mashaba’s top priorities in the two training sessions he had yesterday. He will drill that once more today when they train at the match venue before the crucial first leg encounter in their 2018 World Cup qualifier against neighbours Angola, where kickoff is at 7pm.
“The slight worry we have is finishing,” Mashaba said. “It’s like we want to walk the ball into the back of the net. This needs to be the first thing we address. The second is to ensure that we defend smartly in front of our big box. That’s what we need to go and do. We should try to not give away many set-pieces. These days even a throw-in in front of the big box is a threat.”
The equation is pretty simple for these two nations. Win the match over two legs and join the other 19 African nations who will be divided into five groups of four in the last leg of the World cup qualifiers where the five group winners will book a ticket to Russia. It’s critical that Mashaba’s men make the cut, especially after their stuttering start to the Afcon qualifiers where they have picked up only one point in two matches.
“One thing that I like now, it’s not like it was in the Afcon where we would score early and then give away goals. We now make sure that we don’t give away goals,” Mashaba said.
A clean sheet would put the side in a favourable position before the second leg in Durban on Tuesday. As the only southern African nations to have been to the World Cup – Bafana Bafana having done it three times and the Palancas Negras once in 2006 – there is a lot at stake
“When we started playing in these competitions, when we were warming up, our players would say ‘look how big that guy is, how are we going to mark him?’ It’s gone now,” Mashaba said.
“It’s all in the mind. Play with the heart ... that’s what we need to do.” - The Star