Cape Town - Senegal are sending a star-studded squad to face Bafana Bafana in a 2018 World Cup qualifier in Polokwane on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) - and, make no mistake, this is most certainly a make-or-break situation for both the SA national football team and its head coach, Shakes Mashaba.
In any qualifying programme, home victories are essential. As such, it’s clear that, if Bafana want to secure a spot in Russia in 2018, then they are going to have to find a way to defeat Senegal on Saturday.
If they don’t, they’ll be on the back foot - after only managing a draw in their opening qualifier against Burkina Faso - and that, as a consequence, could well mean that Safa will lose patience with Mashaba.
Having already failed to qualify Bafana for next year's Africa Cup of Nations, Mashaba has copped quite a bit of criticism and come under increasing pressure. On Saturday, he has an opportunity to either laugh at his critics by engineering a victory, or confirming, by defeat, the view that he’s reached the end of the line.
After facing Senegal at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday, Bafana are then scheduled to face Mozambique in an international friendly the following Tuesday. The game will be played at Estadio do Zimpeto in Maputo (kick-off 7pm).
But Saturday is crunch time for Bafana - and they’d better be up for it. Senegal, favourites to top the qualifying group, and to book a place in the 2018 World Cup, have already won their opening match, a 2-0 win over Cape Verde. The west Africans will be keen to maintain that winning momentum when they arrive in South Africa this week. They’ve included all their big guns, like dashing Liverpool wing Sadio Mane, Stoke City striker Mame Biram Diouf and that veritable paragon of industry and athleticism, Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United.
As for Bafana, most intriguing will be to see how new Dutch-born striker Lars Veldwijk performs. Mashaba sprang the surprise inclusion on the nation when announcing the squad. Veldwijk’s father was born in South Africa, which is why he qualifies to play for Bafana. According to Mashaba, he’s had his eye on the player for a while and describes him as ”a big boy, strong, and who can hold the ball.”
The other positive for Bafana is the fact that quite a few local players are in good form.
Cape Times