Despite a bad week, Bafana Bafana remain confident of a successful game against Zambia
SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi
It has not been a good week for the South African World Cup soccer squad with Clive Barker in hospital, Helman Mkhalele nursing an ankle injury and Mark Fish flying back to Rome instead of Lusaka. But disappointing dress rehearsals are no guarantee of disastrous opening nights and Bafana Bafana remain confident they can force at least a draw from the crucial qualifier against Zambia on Saturday.
South Africa opened their six-match Group 3 programme last November with a laboured 1-0 home victory over Zaire, while Zambia slumped to a shock 1-0 loss in the Congo.
Barker has been such a central figure in the senior national squad for so long that his absence from the Marks Park training ground on Tuesday and Wednesday was noticeable.
Assistant Phil Setshedi took charge and he is a quiet, unassuming man, less used to the cameras than the diminutive former professional footballer from Durban. Not that there was any disruption to normal service as Setshedi and Barker go back a long way, having worked together with Bafana Bafana since April 1994.
Barker was laid low by a stomach bug, with his two days in hospital largely a precautionary measure, and was due to fly north on Thursday morning with his 19- strong squad.
Mkhalele was the victim of a tackle by Eric Tinkler, the Italian-based midfielder who is the hard man of the squad, even at practice it seems.
The Orlando Pirates hero, popularly known as Midnight Express, will be available for selection, but former club team-mate Fish is not as lucky, having been suspended by world controlling body Fifa for one match.
If Fish threw his toys out of the cot, who could blame him after another example of how far removed the South African Football Association (Safa) is from the real world?
Surely someone at the mother body of football should have been aware of the rules regarding cautions, namely that if a player receives two in the World Cup, he is automatically suspended from the next cup tie. With so many complaints about firecrackers, perhaps they could be taken to Safa headquarters at Soccer City and set off to ensure officials become more alert.
Fish, cautioned in Malawi last June for a raising his boot too high and again against Zaire for a late tackle, will be eligible for the third group match away to Congo during April. Make no mistake, the man whose flowing locks have given way to a close-cropped style, will be sorely missed after giving a world-class performance for Italian club Lazio against the multi- millionaires of AC Milan last weekend.
The superbly timed interceptions, the well- placed clearances and the general defensive maturity were a joy to behold and made this writer confident that Zambia would find scoring difficult.
While it would be unfair and inaccurate to describe Bafana Bafana as Fish and 10 supporting actors, his absence cannot be underestimated and it could mean the difference between one point and none. When Barker announced his squad before Christmas he spoke boldly of attacking Zambia and going for broke. “Everyone has to gamble sometime, and perhaps my time has come,” he declared.
Gorging themselves on these colourful comments, sections of the print and electronic media launched a hype attack, creating the impression that Bafana Bafana need only turn up in Lusaka to collect three points.
Nothing could be further from the truth as Zambia boast an outstanding home record in World Cup qualifiers and boast a full- strength team with midfielder Charles Musonda back following a three-year injury layoff.
The Zambians have won 19 matches, drawn one and lost two, scored 64 goals and conceded 17 with the defeats coming against Algeria in 1985 and Zaire several decades ago.
While six goals against minnows Lesotho may not be cause for concern, four against Ethiopia (twice), Cameroon, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda and Zaire certainly are.
Zambia have failed to score before their own supporters only three times and in the preliminary round last June, struck three past a Sudanese side that arrived in Lusaka with a two-goal advantage.
Warm-up matches for the South African tie included a 2-0 victory and 1-0 loss in Kenya and a 2-2 draw in Zimbabwe with a severely weakened team that allowed a two- goal lead to slip away.
The contract of Danish coach Roald Poulsen was not renewed following the loss to Congo, and Freddie Mwila, a 50-year disciplinarian, took charge with Samuel “Zoom” Ndhlovu lending technical assistance. Most of the names in the Zambian squad are familiar and everyone is united behind the “Chipolopolo”.
A strike over non-payment of R270 bonuses following the tour of Kenya is history, inspirational captain and midfielder Kalusha Bwalya is back from Mexico and the stage is set for a titanic Southern Africa showdown.
Barker discovered a long time ago that even successes like winning the African Nations Cup do not stop the sniping of some critics who point to a team unproven on foreign fields.
True, the South Africans have played only six away matches under Barker, but after two losses in Australia at the beginning of his reign, the coach has a record of three wins and one draw.
The draw came in Lusaka during the 1996 Nations Cup qualifiers, a match Bafana Bafana looked like winning until Philemon Masinga conceded a late penalty kick which Kenneth Malitoli converted.
Victory this weekend would be like marrying your sweetheart and winning a R1-million lottery the same afternoon, but a draw would also be a good result, guaranteed to keep Bafana Bafana on the road to France.