BAFANA Bafana have nothing but pride at stake and will throw caution to the wind when they host Mauritania in their final 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium tonight (7pm).
Bafana failed to qualify for the Afcon finals in Gabon and now head coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba is looking beyond that event.
He will use this match and the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Egypt at Orlando Stadium next Tuesday (7pm) as a springboard for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
This is the chance for the coach to take off the shackles in a game of little value, providing him with a golden chance to try out new combinations and give promising players from the SA U-23 squad a run to see what they can do at full international level.
They will also want to show the nation that Bafana have new talent in the pipeline and can qualify for Russia, two years away.
Mashaba used the Olympic squad to win the recent Cosafa Cup, but that same squad struggled to impress at the global showpiece in Rio de Janeiro, failing to get past the first round.
Cosafa is the perfect vehicle to blood young players, as it is a minor regional event not recognised on the Fifa or Caf calendar, and should be treated as such.
But with the 2018 World Cup qualifiers around the corner, these two matches are too good an opportunity to pass up to throw new players in the mix.
Mauritania shocked Bafana 3-1 in the away leg last year. Mashaba stressed this week that he was determined to redeem Bafana’s pride by beating unknown Mauritania and finishing second in Group M behind group winners Cameroon.
Apart from youngsters Denwin Farmer, Aubrey Modiba – who has just joined SuperSport United from Cape Town City – and Gift Motupa, Mashaba has also brought back two key defenders, Thulani “Tyson “ Hhlatswayo and Ramahlwe “Rama” Mphahlele. Both are set to play at the heart of the defence.
Mphahlele was part of the squad that defeated Gambia 4-0 in the last qualifiers in June.
The Kaizer Chiefs defender said Bafana should continue where they left off: “This is a very important game for the country. Remember, we lost 3-1 to Mauritania and want to reverse the result. Also, we are preparing for the World Cup qualifiers so we need to win. We need to have the momentum going and confidence high when we tackle the qualifiers. We must qualify for Russia.
“We had a good game against Gambia. Most of the guys who were in that match are here and we still have the confidence, so we believe we can take that form into this game. We want to close these qualifiers with a win, which would be our second in the qualifiers.”
Mashaba could also give goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse another chance after he struggled in the Cosafa Cup. The coach knows what both his other keepers, Itumeleng Khune and Jackson Mabokgwane, are capable of.
Mauritania have been the surprise team of the group and are currently sitting second on seven points – one more than Bafana.
If nothing else, Bafana and Mashaba will want to wipe away the memory of that 3-1 defeat by producing a convincing display to regain some pride.
