You’ve got to hand it to Shakes Mashaba. The new coach seems to have the Midas touch — and now he has taken Bafana Bafana to their first Council of Southern African Football Association (Cosafa) Cup final.
He took the under-23 team to the Olympics in 2000 and, in the same year, led Banyana Banyana to their first Women’s African Nations Cup final. Now it’s the big boys’ turn.
Bafana Bafana are 180 minutes away from notching up their first win against Malawi in the regional cup. The first leg will be contested in Blantyre on Saturday with the second leg in Durban next weekend.
The teams have met five times before, with South Africa coming out on top four times. But, perhaps ominously, Malawi’s sole victory was in last year’s Cosafa Cup semifinal.
Mashaba says: “We have worked hard to be where we are and to fluff it now would be suicidal.”
Malawi are not expected to be a walkover in their own backyard, but Mashaba does not intend to play defensively. “We will not sit back — and the best way of defending is attacking, anyway.”
The squad left for Malawi early on Monday to acclimatise to the altitude and to ensure that any bad reception they receive does not affect their performance come Saturday.
Malawi will be pinning their hopes on young striker Essau Kanyenda, who has scored in every game in the Cosafa Cup this year and has been doing a lot of damage for his club side Jomo Cosmos — including a hat-trick against African Wanderers.
John Maduka of Bush Bucks is expected to control the midfield while Patrick Mabedi of Chiefs will try to prevent any loose balls from reaching the Bafana Bafana strikers.
They will not be the only threat to Bafana Bafana as Malawi is a stubborn team that play hard, which they proved by beating champions Angola in the quarterfinal and in the semi- finals brushing aside two-time champions Zambia. Also aiding the Flames is that their squad has remained almost unchanged throughout.
Bafana Bafana’s run to the final was not as convincing, getting through thanks to two penalty shoot-outs –against Botswana in the first round and Madagascar in the quarterfinals. The only time they showed their class was in the 4-1 win over Swaziland. But the team is significantly changed from that semifinal demoliton as a number of players have gone on to play abroad, while others are injured or out of form.
Bafana will be missing two-goal hero Tebogo Mokoena due to injury, and Stanton Fredricks and midfield maestro Jabu Pule — but for the last-named there is an excellent replacement in Japhet Zwane, who was just outstanding in the African Cup of Nations qualifier against Cte d’Ivoire.
Defender Thabang Molefe will be the only overseas-based player in the squad as he is currently not playing for his club team SFK Lyn. Mashaba would like to use the player as he will be well-versed in the tricks of former Cosmos clubmate Kanyenda.
What will please Mashaba is that his number one goalkeeper Andre Arendse is in great form and that striker Patrick Mayo will have some confidence after scoring two goals against Kaizer Chiefs last week.
A win or draw in Malawi could give Bafana the edge for the return in Durban, but a loss would make it a daunting task as the away-goal rule applies in this competition.
Mashaba says: “The chances are bright for Bafana Bafana. It’s just for the boys to work hard.” A loss would threaten Bafana’s 33rd-place world ranking, while for Malawi, who have risen to 95, the only way is up.
Further motivation for the players comes in the form of 80% of the cash prize (R550 000) plus bonuses, SouthAfrican Football Associaion CEO Albert Mokeona announced last week.