Cape Town - Shakes Mashaba jetted out of OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday night headed for St Petersburg, Russia nursing hopes he will make the same trip in three years’ time only then with Bafana Bafana in tow.
The South African senior national team coach will be in Russia for Saturday’s 2018 World Cup preliminary draw at the Konstantin Palace and would love nothing more than to lead Bafana to qualification.
“That’s the pinnacle of everything,” Mashaba said of participating at the World Cup. “It’s what everyone works for. So it is exciting that by the weekend we will know the route we have to take to get there and I have no doubt everyone is looking forward to the draw. I am”
The last time Bafana qualified for the World Cup via the qualification route was back in 2002 when Carlos Quieroz earned us the ticket to South Korea/Japan. Thereafter, both Stuart Baxter, for the 2006 edition in Germany, and Gordon Igesund, for last year’s tournament in Brazil, came a cropper and duly lost their jobs.
Job security was, however, the last thing on Mashaba’s mind as he and team manager Barney Kujane left the country on Wednesday - the coach focussing on adding yet another feather on his highly-decorated national team coaching cap.
Having led the Under-20s to their own version of the World Cup, the Under-23s to the Olympics and Bafana to the Africa Cup of Nations, the man who captained both Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows during his playing days is eager to take the senior side to a global event.
“That should be the rooftop for me,” he said “Qualifying for the World Cup will seal it for my career.”
With Zimbabwe having been expelled from the qualifiers, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) will have 53 participants in the draw.
Bafana Bafana, ranked 16th, will be among the 27 countries that sit out Round 1 of the qualifiers that will see the bottom 26 sides playing each other in a knockout home and away format - the top 13 against the bottom 13. The winners will then join the remaining 27 to leave 40 teams contesting another knockout round whereby the top 20 will face off against the bottom 20.
The victorious sides will then be divided into four groups of five the winners of which will represent Africa in Russia. It is a tough process, with Bafana facing the potential of a tie against Morocco or even Togo in the elimination Round 2. Mashaba though, was not thinking of the opposition as yet and had adopted the wait and see approach.
“We’re going to have workshops there for coaches and managers regarding the draw and all the logistics. We want to qualify for the World Cup and whoever comes our way we have to take on and do our best to beat.”
Cape Times