Month: July 2016

South African coach Ephraim Mashaba claimed that he is extremely happy with the performance given by his team in the game against Gambia.

After back-to-back draws in the qualifying games against Cameroon, South Africa were in desperate need of three points in order to put them back into contention for reaching the tournament final. It certainly came in the form of a 4-0 win. The timing of the victory could not have been much better, as South Africa have now moved within a point of second placed Mauritania.

Only the top two teams qualify for the final with the second team having to go through play-offs.
At this stage,Mashaba will be happy even with reaching the play-offs. Cameroon have a substantial lead in the table, as they are a further four points away fromMauritania.

South Africa’s final qualification match will be againstnone other than Mauritania. It will be a do or die game for the Bafana Bafana, who were extremely good in the game against Gambia according to their manager. If South Africa failed to reach the African Cup of Nations next year, it may lead toMashaba’s position coming under review. The 4-0 win over Gambia was the biggest win during the African Cup of Nations 2017 qualifier.

“That was total football from the boys and it only goes to show the amount of potential we have in the country. Winning by such a massive margin and away from home shows this team can go places. Since our arrival here in Banjul, Gambia had constantly warned us that they wanted to humiliate us to finish the campaign on a high. But my boys had other ideas; their desire to win, the hunger in their eyes and will to do something special was there for all to see,” saidMashaba.

South African national team manager Ephraim Mashaba promised some key changes to the national team squad for the upcoming Cosafa Cup in Namibia.

This will be the precursor to the 2018 World Cup qualifying games for the South African national team. Hence,Mashaba has hinted that he may use this tournament as a preparation for the qualification campaign that starts in September. South Africa may be one of the strongest teams going into theCosafa Cup, but the big prize that awaits them is the World Cup. After having featured in the 2010 edition when they were the hosts, South Africa will want to experience the joy once again.

The national team has been on an extremely good run in the last few months. They have suffered just the one loss against Angola in the last eight games of all competitions. This, however, does make them look like proper contenders for the African Cup of Nations, which begins in 2017. Only the games against Gambia and Mauritania remain for the national team, who are winless so far. South Africa have drawn all their three games to sit third in the table. Only the top two teams from the group can take part in the African Cup of Nations.

“After long deliberations with the other coaches regarding the Cosafa Cup, we came to the conclusion that we must use this tournament to build our future teams.Many a time we as national team coaches always talk about how little time we have with the players ahead of a big game and how we didn’t have enough time to prepare but now we have ample time to do that. The 2016 squad for the Cosafa Cup is mainly made up of u23 players,” said Mashaba. TheCosafa Cup starts on June 11 and ends on 25th.