Johannesburg - Aware of the growing criticism following Bafana Bafana’s failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and then the draw against Mauritania in the final group game last Friday escalating the said pressure, coach Shakes Mashaba said he was learning to accept the views of his detractors, who believe his job security hinges on Tuesday night’s Nelson Mandela Challenge clash against Egypt.
It’s not often that Mashaba gives such a mellow response when taking some serious heat for yet another lacklustre showing by the national team - as evidenced by his comments shortly after the 1-1 stalemate against Mauritania in Nelspruit when he argued that he was one of the most successful coaches to lead Bafana. The coach was reserved, probably heeding the warning from his media team who shielded him from having to answer tough questions regarding his future.
“Criticism is always there,” Mashaba said. “You will be criticised even if you are eating, people will say you eat too much. So, we have accepted that and we have learnt to live with it. It is most unfortunate, but you don’t get exactly what people want to tell you when they are criticising you. They will say the team didn’t play well, but there is no elaboration.
“If we could play these opposition in the training session, I don’t doubt we could beat them because everyone plays well there, but when we get to the game it’s a different story because we are playing against a team that has plans.”
Asked whether there was any truth in reports that he would be sacked should Bafana lose to the Pharaohs at Orlando Stadium, Mashaba said as far as he knew he was still mandated to prepare the team for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Bafana begin their journey to the Russia global showpiece with an away fixture to Burkina Faso early next month. Senegal and Cape Verde complete their qualification group, in which the outright winners book their World Cup seat.
“I don’t read newspapers. Until somebody comes and tells me what is happening, I know nothing about that. If somebody wanted to tell me something, I think they would have done it by now,” the coach said. Mashaba went on to suggest that he partly regrets seeing Bafana qualify for the 2015 Afcon at the first time of asking under his watch.
“We raised expectations from people. When we took over Bafana, we had two weeks (before the start of the opening qualifier for that specific Afcon tournament) and we qualified. That was unexpected, but we were unaware that we are raising pressure. And now everybody thinks we are world-beaters,” Mashaba explained. “I will still credit a lack of scoring goals for not qualifying for next year’s Afcon. That is the biggest problem we are sitting with. If we could convert one or two chances in most of our games, we are home and dry. We are playing good football, the only problem is that we don’t score.”
His misfiring strikers face a tough challenge getting past the miserly Pharaoh’s defence.
@superjourno
The Star