Bafana Bafana need one point from their final two matches to qualify for next year’s World Cup
Ntuthuko Maphumulo
Next year’s World Cup seems so near yet so far for Bafana Bafana. South Africa is waiting with bated breath to see whether the national soccer side can do as they did in 1998 and qualify for their second successive World Cup to be held in South Korea and Japan next year.
There are only two countries that can spoil this party Burkina Faso and Malawi. This weekend Bafana take on Burkina Faso in Ouaga-dougou. The South Africans won the home leg 1-0 at the Olympia stadium in Rustenburg last year.
Bafana coach Carlos Queiroz summed it up nicely this week when he said: “This is a crucial game for us. We have one leg in Korea and we need to land the other leg in Japan.”
Bafana Bafana are ranked number one in Africa and 22 in the world against the continental ranking of 22 and world rating of 74 for the Burkinabe.
Both teams have already qualified for next year’s African Cup of Nations in Mali but only one is expected to qualify for the World Cup later next year.
Bafana Bafana need just one point from the game against Burkina Faso or the clash with Malawi on July 14 in Durban to secure an all- expenses-paid trip to Korea and Japan to participate in the greatest soccer event in the world as players and not spectators.
In recent months Queiroz has chosen two effectively separate squads: one to contest the continental showpiece, the other to focus on the World Cup.
South Africa’s most recent game was a 0-0 draw against Congo in the African Cup of Nations. The match was spectacular, but the strikers could not find the net. Queiroz has spent some time on shooting practice in training this week.
There are other problems in front of goal top scorer Shaun Bartlett is nursing an injury and his fellow first-choice striker Benni McCarthy has withdrawn to take part in the Spanish King’s Cup final for his club side Celta Vigo.
Queiroz hopes that McCarthy will be available for the final World Cup qualifier against Malawi in two weeks. Jomo Cosmos striker Nkosinathi Nhleko has been called up to replace him.
Burkina Faso have done very well in African Cup of Nations qualifiers, recording victories over Mauritania (3-0), Burundi (1-0), Angola (1-0) and the Super Eagles of Nigeria (1-0).
But their World Cup campaign has been dismal, with a 4-2 victory and a 1-1 draw against Malawi their only successes in the qualifiers. They’ve lost to South Africa and Zimbabwe (1-2), and cannot qualify for next year’s finals.
They might not have any chance of getting to Japan and Korea, but they will come into Sunday’s game all fired up as they will be playing in front of their home crowd.
The last time South Africa was in Burkina Faso was in 1998, when they were favoured to retain the continental title they won in 1996 but failed to do so.
South Africa have a perfect record of four wins out of four games so far in qualifying group E, but cannot afford to be complacent.
Bafana Bafana have been hard at practice this week with the recall of a few international players like John “Shoes” Mosheou, Dumisa Ngobe, Quinton Fortune, Jacob Lekgeto and Hans Vonk, who were not party to the last African Cup of Nations quali-fier match.
Stalwart defender Mark Fish and injured captain Lucas Radebe will not be part of the squad to play in Burkina Faso but both players are eager to wear the Bafana Bafana jersey again.
Fish last represented his country in a friendly against France at Ellis Park last year while Radebe’s last Bafana game was against Liberia in December in an African Cup of Nations qualifier. Both these players were not in the coach’s plans when the final team was announced last week. Queiroz made it quite clear he would no longer beg players to don the Bafana jersey.
The strikers who play in this crucial World Cup qualifier game will be looking to in-form wings Delron Buckley and Sibusiso Zuma to give them the quality passes needed to score goals. As victory would book tickets to next year’s party, the strikers could settle the nation’s nerves with a few well-timed strikes.
Bafana top their group E world cup qualifiers with 12 points and are followed by Zimbabwe with six points, Burkina Faso with four and Malawi with one point. Only the winners of each group will qualify to represent Africa in next year’s World Cup finals.
Group A is led by Cameroon followed by Angola; Liberia are the surprise leaders in group B, followed by Nigeria; group C is led by Morocco, with Senegal second; and Tunisia lead group D ahead of Cte d’Ivoire.
Most of these countries will also be playing their qualifiers this weekend. The heat will be turned up this week for all the countries that are expected to qualify for the world cup.
Tears of joy and sadness will be expected from countries, players and supporters over the next few weeks as they find out who goes through to the greatest show on Earth.