Johannesburg - Now recovered from an injury that saw him sit out Friday’s Afcon qualifier against Mauritania, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Keagan Dolly looks set to play a role against Egypt in tonight’s Nelson Mandela Challenge at Orlando Stadium.
Dolly’s return to Bafana Bafana is a welcome boost as he scored two goals in the penultimate AFCON qualifier against Gambia in June this year.
Yet the midfielder is aware of the difficulty of the encounter he and his teammates face given the Pharaohs lofty rankings both on the continent, 5th, and in the world, 43rd as compared to Bafana’s lowly 13th and 64th standings respectively.
“We know it’s going to be tough, they are a very good team. They have good individuals playing at the highest level and after our draw against Mauritania on Friday we want to impress our home supporters because we haven’t been doing so well at home. With all the chances we created in that game, which we controlled, we just want to convert them against Egypt and win the match,” said Dolly.
It is a song coach Shakes Mashaba has been singing for a while now, Bafana’s need to make use of scoring opportunities. And Dolly agrees, the midfielder confirming this is a nationwide problem.
“One thing we need to improve on is our form at home, especially converting our chances - the very same thing we struggled with in Brazil with the u23 National Team at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. We created more chances than Denmark but did not take them. They scored the only goal and we did not qualify,” added Dolly.
“That’s the problem we have in the country as a whole, and if we can look at the top goal scorer each season it’s like 14 goals - that’s something we need to work on in South Africa. We create chances, we have good build-ups, we keep the ball well but when we get into the final third we tend to rush. We just need to be composed and make the proper pass and that will help us going forward. I struggle from the same thing, we tend to get excited, but if we work on it we stand a good chance going into the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.”
Dolly believes they will turn things around.
“The technical staff believed in us and that is why they called us up, I don’t think they need to take the blame because we are the ones playing on the field, we are the ones not converting our chances. Hopefully things will change,” Dolly said.
They will have to if South Africa are to go into the 2018 World Cup qualifiers beginning next month with some confidence as well as the respect of the opposition – Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Senegal. As it stands, turning things around tonight is also very important with regards to the coach’s future, with Safa president Danny Jordaan having voiced his dissatisfaction at how things have been going at the senior national team.
@extrastrongsa
Independent Media