It was not the bitterly disappointing 1-0 defeat against Nigeria at the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon that hammered the final nails into Bafana Bafana’s coffin in qualifying for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals.
An hour later, the world’s 145th-ranked Sierra Leone beat Equatorial Guinea 2-1, which assured that their opponents finished bottom of the Group 4 qualifying segment rather than Sierra Leone, and in the process obliterated the glimmer of hope that remained of South Africa participating in the 2010 tournament in Angola.
An involved system introduced by Fifa whereby the results of games involving teams finishing bottom in the qualifying groups are not taken into account ultimately sealed Bafana’s fate — with the fat lady chortling the unpalatable message that war-ravaged Sierra Leone, one of the minnows of world soccer and a country with a population of little more than six million, have effectively outmanoeuvred South Africa from the Nations Cup.
Bafana’s only qualifying win has been the 4-1 home success against a ramshackle Equatorial Guinea, but even the three points gained from this game would not have counted in deciding which of the second-placed teams would go forward to the next round.
Bafana’s final game next month is also against Equatorial Guinea, which means if a victory is achieved, South Africa’s net qualifying points will still number a meagre one — the result of the 0-0 home draw against Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone, meanwhile, have garnered four points from a home win and the away draw against Bafana and the outcome of their final game against Nigeria is only material as far as their chances of remaining in contention for the 2010 Nations Cup are concerned.
And, while Bafana produced a good deal of cohesive, inventive and pleasing build-up play against Nigeria on Saturday, in typical and predictable fashion too much is being made of this fact against a weakened Super Eagles line-up with limited motivation on the occasion.
All things being equal, home teams are supposed to dominate in soccer — but with Bafana this now seems no more than a rare phenomenon.
Apart from the 4-1 win against Equatorial Guinea, Bafana failed to record a goal in their four other Nations Cup qualifying games — and, on the evidence of Saturday’s performance in Port Elizabeth, nothing has changed regarding their impotent finishing. — Sapa