The look of contentment that flickered across Shakes Mashaba’s face as he addressed a post match conference could easily have been mistaken for the Bafana Bafana coach being pleased with the 1-1 draw with Nigeria.
That, though, was not the case for Mashaba would have loved to see his team take advantage of their dominance and the many chances they created to see South Africa register only their second win over their West African nemesis.
The source of the South African senior national team coach’s glee had more to do with the positives he saw from the two friendlies his team played in the past week.
Sunday’s draw with the Super Eagles at Mbombela Stadium followed a 3-1 victory over Swaziland last Wednesday and Mashaba was pleased not only by his team’s application but the fact that he got to blood new players.
“I’m happy that we have widened the base (of the squad). A number of players have raised their hands up and now no players can come here and feel that they have a jersey number guaranteed,” he explained.
In the absence of both former captain Dean Furman and Anele Ngconcga, who pulled out of the squad on the eve of the matches, there were concerns the team could be found wanting at leftback and in the heart of midfield.
But those worries proved unfounded as both Thabo Matlaba and Sibusiso Khumalo did well in the defensive position and Bongani Zungu combined superbly well with Andile Jali in the heart of the pitch.
Also delightful for the coach would have been the performances of the few newcomers he used in Swaziland, striker Thabo Mnyamane’s goal on debut no doubt the highlight.
While the Pretoria University forward did not play against Nigeria, the youngster has no doubt impressed Mashaba and will surely get more chances to show what he can do at the international level.
Also given their debuts in Swaziland were Daniel Cardoso, Thapelo Morena, Cole Alexander, Lebogang Phiri as well as Siphelele Ntshangase – players who will no doubt don the national team jersey once more soon. With the Cosafa Cup next in line before Bafana start playing in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches, Mashaba was happy to have had these two competitive matches. But being the realist he is, he knows that he will not be able to use the southern African tournament as preparation for the highly competitive Afcon qualifiers that start in June.
“If we could get the players maybe a month before the qualifiers then we would be fine. But the clubs will be saying the players are tired (after a long season). We will be told the players need to go and rest, we will get the bench warmers and that will be a problem with preparing for the qualifiers,” he lamented.
Mashaba was, however, quick to point out that the release of players for the national team is not a coach’s problem. - The Star