Johannesburg - The South African Football Association (Safa) national executive committee are scheduled to meet on Saturday morning, and, while the future of the Bafana Bafana coach would not have been top of the agenda when the caucus was planned, there has been plenty this week to suggest it should.
Shakes Mashaba’s little to no grasp of reality is what separates the national team mentor from his predecessors, and is perhaps - along with inadequate preparation by his own admission - the reason for Bafana’s disastrous attempt to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon next year.
While those who have been in the hot seat long before Mashaba namely Joel Santana, Pitso Mosimane and Gordon Igesund, were equally defiant in the face of criticism, they seldom shifted blame for Bafana’s poor record under their watch.
Read: Coaches are fighting a losing battle
Even though they were not necessarily blunt in admitting their flaws - Santana for one looked for every excuse under the sun - being in denial was hardly ever an Achilles heel. Often, they tried their luck at finding a solution, but time was usually in short supply.
This week, Mashaba proved that not only is he obsessed with picking fights with the press, but his belief that Bafana can still qualify for Afcon when they are winless in four qualifiers and trail Group M leaders Cameroon by five points, with two games remaining, smacked of a delusional man cracking under pressure.
Another former Bafana mentor - Jomo Sono - on Thursday pleaded with Mashaba to man up and accept criticism from the media. When he made a pronouncement that he would be building a squad for the future ahead of his first match in charge in September 2014, Mashaba’s whimsical approach in selecting a team was a refreshing sight in the national team set-up.
But just how long does it take to build a team? It seems Mashaba was hoping to be spared from scrutiny for his entire tenure or at least until the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.
Read: Shakes blames Tovey for Bafana’s failure
Maybe if he were coaching a lower league side with no vision and ambition would Mashaba enjoy that kind of free reign, but not while he is a national team coach. The downward spiral began at last year’s Afcon finals, a competition Bafana were so effective and ruthless in during the qualification phase. Nigeria, Congo and Sudan were no match for a fearless South African team under a new technical team with faith in the youth.
Mashaba made a few blunders in Equatorial Guinea. The most obvious was leaving out European-based players available to him in Thulani Serero, Ayanda Patosi, Kamohelo Mokotjo and May Mahlangu, who was banned by Safa for saying he needed a rest from the national team two months before the tournament, but all has been forgiven. Their absence did not go unnoticed and the Safa top brass hauled Mashaba over the coals for omitting such quality players from an important continental competition.
Shakes: Bafana will make it to World Cup
The coach has not found the perfect balance to help the team progress since, with the admission that the Bafana technical team isn’t interested in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition ahead of an encounter, the most shocking revelation yet.
Mashaba’s baffling explanation of his selection criteria, which saw as many as 11 unfit or inexperienced players selected for the two crucial back-to-back qualifiers against Cameroon last month, remains one of the key talking points in the NEC determining whether he is still the right man for the job going forward. He has one more mandate - to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia - but has some incredible introspection to do.
Bafana now have to rely on luck
On Saturday morning, when his bosses meet to possibly discus his future, there can be no doubt Mashaba is walking a tightrope, and taking on journalists as well as his paranoia has left him exposed.
Saturday Star