A change of venue from Zaire to Togo is as good as a holiday for South Africa’s footballers, but they will have to work hard to get a good result
SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi
LET us start by separating fact from fiction. South Africa can defeat Zaire in the World Cup this weekend and fail to reach the finals, or lose and still book a place at the 32-nation showpiece of international football in France next year.
That said it would obviously be preferable for Bafana Bafana to come back from the Togolese capital on Monday morning with three points, and news that Zambia had beaten Congo in Lusaka would be the perfect breakfast accompaniment.
Going into the fourth of six qualifying rounds, Congo are the surprise leaders with seven points, followed by South Africa with four and Zaire and Zambia with two each. It is a situation potentially as explosive as a volcano, with South Africa capable of leading or propping up the standings come Sunday evening.
A huge factor in favour of Bafana Bafana is that the match is being staged at the 20000-capacity Eyadema Stadium in neutral Lom and not the 80 000-seat Kamonyola Stadium in Kinshasa.
Quiet apart from the civil war, which moves closer to the Zairean capital with each passing day, Kinshasa is one of the most intimidating places for African footballers to visit. Pointe-Noire in Congo is a holiday resort by comparison.
Zairean hospitality can extend to hanging dead monkeys on dressingroom walls, the hotels defy description, and the so-called team bus is often a small, stinking, windowless taxi. Truly a place to avoid at all costs. One would expect the Togolese to support another French-speaking country, but Bafana Bafana team manager Glyn Binkin believes otherwise following a flying visit to the tiny west African nation last week.
It appears as if Zairean footballers have relished kicking lumps out of their Togolese counterparts on previous trips to Lom, creating a situation in which there is no love lost.
Binkin says the pitch is reasonably sized and much better than the Pointe-Noire “cabbage patch” with the ground staff watering the hard surface daily and working hard to eradicate the bumps.
Add an international-class hotel, at 35 storeys easily the tallest building in the capital, and Bafana Bafana can forget about offering excuses if they fail to tame the Zairean Leopards.
While there is no need for panic following a two-goal loss in Congo, national coach Clive Barker seems certain to make changes with defence, midfield and attack all coming under scrutiny. Goalkeeper Andr Arendse is safe, but of the back five which began against Congo only Mark Fish, fully recovered from a vicious physical pounding , and Lucas Radebe are safe.
Captain Neil Tovey and vice-captain Sizwe Motaung will probably survive despite poor performances and an unforgiveable lack of leadership from Tovey when his team fell two goals behind. Neil, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It would have come as no surprise if the South Africans had pulled white flags out of their pockets, such was the lack of commitment.
Lack of match practice once again caught up with Innocent Buthelezi and Eric Tinkler, whose dream of playing in the Italian Serie A is rapidly becoming a nightmare as he repeatedly warms the Cagliari bench. Surely, the time has come for Dumisa Ngobe to be given an extended chance. The skilful yet strong Orlando Pirates midfielder scored the only goal on his debut against Kenya last year and possesses big-match temperament.
If Barker persists with three midfielders, another Buccaneer, John Moeti, and “Shoes” Moshoeu can make strong cases while Philemon Masinga is certain to return in attack, probably beside Jerry Sikhosana or Brendan Augustine.
Zaire may be down but they certainly are not out, with victory on Sunday bringing them back into contention. Much will hinge on who they bring, with the team that held Zambia in Harare last month much changed from that which lost to South Africa.
Spies like Bunene Ngaduane of QwaQwa Stars and Epangala Lokose of Cape Town Spurs are camped in the enemy territory and Zaire may well know more about South Africa than South Africa knows about Zaire. Once again the Leopards are likely to be strong and skilful, playing their way out of danger with fluent movements and if Bafana Bafana are to collect maximum points, a 100% improvement on the Congo debacle will be necessary.