Bafana Bafana must show more urgency if they hope to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola.
This was the message from team manager Sipho Nkumane on Tuesday when reflecting on Bafana’s disappointing 1-0 Group Four defeat against lowly ranked Sierra Leone in Freetown last Saturday.
With Nigeria beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 away on Sunday to reach the halfway mark with a 100% record of nine points from three matches, the Super Eagles are virtually assured of qualifying for the continental showpiece.
But Bafana’s hopes are starting to look grim. They host 163rd-ranked Sierra Leone in the return qualifier at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Saturday in what is a make-or-break match.
Bafana, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone now have three points with three matches to play. After Saturday, Bafana host Nigeria in September and end their qualifying programme away to Equatorial Guinea in October.
Said Nkumane: ”The players must start showing more urgency. They appear to be treating these qualifiers as they would a friendly. The bottom line is that if we lose on Saturday we will not qualify for Angola. In fact, we will have to win the three remaining qualifiers to be sure of playing in Angola. We have certainly made life difficult for ourselves and have to pick up the pieces and bounce back.”
Nkumane said it was hard to swallow losing to an ordinary side like Sierra Leone: ”It is not as if they are a powerhouse in Africa. They are far from that. We created countless chances but failed where it mattered most, and that is in front of goal. The only positive aspect is that we did create a lot of chances and we must now stick them away this Saturday.”
Nkumane also said that Bafana must start showing more mental toughness.
One of the players who lacked urgency was striker Terror Fanteni, who seemed to freeze in war-ravaged Freetown. The Israel-based forward scored his first goal for his country the previous weekend, helping Bafana to a 4-1 win over Equatorial Guinea. But the former Ajax Cape Town star looked uncomfortable against the Leone Stars.
One of the biggest problems could be communication between head coach Joel Santana and his players. No matter how good a coach is, if he cannot make his players understand him then he is on a hiding to nothing.
Brazilian-born Santana’s English is very poor. His one assistant and fellow Brazilian Jairo Leal’s command of the English language is not much better, and that leaves the other assistant coach, Pitso Mosimane, to get the message across to the players. No wonder the players are confused.
Should Bafana fail to reach Angola in 18 months’ time, then the South African Football Association must shoulder much of the blame for employing a coach who cannot speak basic English. — Sapa