If you followed the media after Bafana Bafana’s loss to Nigeria, you would have thought the result was one of football’s greatest shocks. You would also have been forgiven for thinking that South Africa regularly beat Nigeria, instead of the fact that we have never beaten the West Africans in a competitive match.
South Africa have yet to score a goal against the Super Eagles.
The most we have achieved against Nigeria was a goalless draw at the FNB Stadium in January 1993. Even then, Rashidi Yekini’s perfectly legitimate goal was disallowed, with the only possible reason being that it would have spoilt the atmosphere on that perfect summer’s day.
South African football fans are going to have to desist from thinking of Nigeria as a rival. The reason some people still talk about David killing a giant with a stone more than 2 000 years ago is because such occurrences are a rarity and need divine or supernatural intervention.
Given this, Bafana will look to beat their next opponents, Equatorial Guinea, when the teams meet at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, on Saturday — this time, the team is matched against peers.
For starters, Equatorial Guinea are coached by Brazilian Jordan de Freitas. For another, they are ranked at 73, five places behind South Africa on the Fifa world rankings. One more similarity is that they will co-host a major Fifa competition with Gabon at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Unlike Bafana, who were taken seriously between 1996 when they won the Africa Cup of Nations and 2002 when they scored a goal in the World Cup finals, Equatorial Guinea have never been taken seriously.
The bulk of their squad plays football in former colonial power Spain. The Nzalang Nacional — as the West Africans call themselves — seem to be on a downward spiral considering they have dropped nine places in the past three months.
Meanwhile, South Africa welcome back Teko Modise, who missed the Nigeria trip because of a toe injury. It will be the Orlando Pirates talisman’s first match since he was controversially made the coaches’ choice for best footballer in the land. He might have something to prove.
Modise will not be the only one. After the perceived capitulation in Nigeria, the entire South African team has a lot to prove.