BAFANA Bafana beat Egypt 1-0 at Orlando Stadium last night to lift the Nelson Mandela Challenge in what could have been coach Shakes Mashaba’s last game at the helm.
Bafana have always done well in friendlies, but freeze in official matches, that matter the most.
This was evident last night as they easily overcame the Pharoahs to lift the annual competition for the third time in a row.
Mpho Makola scored the solitary goal in the seventh minute when he headed home Mandla Masango’s terrific cross. The Orlando Pirates midfielder also scored the only goal when Bafana beat Senegal by the same margin to lift the trophy last year.
Bafana failed to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup in Gabon and their 1-1 draw against 104th world ranked Mauritania in a dead rubber final Afcon qualifier on Friday left a lot to be desired.
Bafana scored one goal in their entire campaign and collected a mere three points on home soil which lead to their failure to qualify for Gabon piling more pressure on the embattled Mashaba to resign.
Bafana ended in disappointing third place behind Group M winners Cameroon and Mauritania who finished second on the mini league table.
Safa president Danny Jordaan was unhappy about their below par performance against Mauritania which summed up their dismal qualifying campaign. The question on the lips of Mzansi’s football fraternity now is when will Mashaba step down and who is capable of taking over his job?
The potential candidate will need to hit the ground running as the World Cup qualifiers are due to start on 2 October with Bafana meeting Burkina Faso.
Mashaba made four changes to the side that drew with Mauritania as he gave SuperSport United defender Clayton Daniels a nod in place of Ramahlwe Mphahlele, while Dean Furman who started on the bench against Mauritania replaced Hlompho Kekana.
The outspoken mentor preferred Masango’s over Maphosa Modiba while Mamelodi Sundowns winger Keagan Dolly who missed the last game due to a hamstring injury replaced Sibusiso Vilakazi.
Mashaba kept his faith on lanky striker Thamsanqa Gabuza who looked a bit rusty against Mauritania.
