Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba claims that thoughts about his future were the furthest thing from his mind, leading up to the match against Egypt that was billed as a make-or-break for him. But he welcomed the 1-0 win at Orlando Stadium in the Nelson Mandela Challenge.
Mashaba reminded people that this was the third time, in a row, he had won this trophy. He guided Bafana past Ivory Coast in 2014, Senegal last year and the seven-time African champions the Pharaohs on Tuesday at Orlando Stadium.
The victory, in a stadium he used to call home as an Orlando Pirates’ player, could be his last act as Bafana coach. The South African Football Association (Safa) technical committee will deliberate on his report on Saturday. Mashaba and his technical team have to submit a report explaining why the side didn’t qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
“We prepared to play and win this game,” Mashaba said. “We weren’t looking at meetings and all of that. We had to play football. We came here to win. We did that and the rest will take care of itself. I am anticipating to win more games with Bafana Bafana. I am not aware of any meeting.”
Safa president Danny Jordaan confirmed that meeting.
“The technical committee will meet on Saturday where they’ll get the report (from the coach),” Jordaan said.
Jordan refused to be drawn into speculating if Safa will keep the coach or not after Jordaan went on national television to slam Bafana's performance in the 1-1 draw with Mauritania. He said what he saw in that match shouldn’t be the start of a journey but the end of it.
“You can’t get the results before you write the exams. Let them submit their exam papers first and then we will take it from there,” Jordaan said.
Qualifying for the Afcon formed half of Mashaba’s exam, with the other half being to guide the team to the World Cup. He has failed 50% of that exam already. But Mashaba is defiant that he is the right man to lead the team to the 2018 World Cup. Bafana need to win a group that has Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Senegal to be one of the five nations that will represent Africa in Russia. The side starts their campaign with a tricky tie on the road against Burkina Faso early next month.
“Let me say this to you, I like repeating myself, we qualified for the 2015 Afcon when we had been in charge of the team for two months,” Mashaba said. “We went to Equatorial Guinea. I am sure what we must blame ourselves (on) is that we raised false hopes. People thought that we had arrived. For us, not qualifying wasn’t our wish. Unfortunately things didn’t go well. But I think that with time we will make sure that we qualify (for the World Cup).”
Independent Media