In this week's DoRego's blog, we feature Bafana Bafana legend, Phil Masinga.
I think everybody must be happy after Bafana's 3-0 win over CAR, because the boys played their hearts out under difficult circumstances and showed that they wanted to win at all costs. We haven't been doing so well playing away from home and we went out there and scored three goals, which is something really commendable. I mean, that on its own will give them much-needed confidence going to Ethiopia. It was a team effort, which is why I won't single out individuals and say so-and-so played well. They were well-organised as a team and they planned well for the game, so I can't say there was anyone who was better than the others. Hopefully they will continue where they left off going into Sunday's game.
The boys must up their game against Ethiopia because it's going to be a very difficult one! Ethiopia is a good team with good players and it will be important for us to up our game. Obviously we will be under pressure because even if Ethiopia play a draw, it will be like a win for them because they would still be on top of the group standings, so we should go out there and try to win this game.
It's always difficult going to play away, especially in other African countries, but I think thina in our generation we were lucky in that we had a team that had a lot of leaders. We had myself, Lucas Radebe, Neil Tovey, Eric Tinkler and the late Sizwe (Motaung) and, going into games like this one, it was easy for us to talk to the younger guys and tell them to be strong. A player like 'Mbazo' (Aaron Mokoena) was still new to the national team setup and there were a few other younger players, and we were there to help them deal with the pressure.
In the current squad we've got players who've played in big competitions like the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, like Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Itumeleng Khune. They've been there for quite some time now and they understand what it's all about. We've got abo (the likes of) Senzo Meyiwa, as well as Oupa Manyisa whose experience of playing in the Caf Champions League with Orlando Pirates will play a vital role.
A lot of people have been complaining about Bafana's strike force. I think we are doing the best we can with the material we have at the moment. Which other striker can we get? If we had options it would be better, but we don't have options. This is the material that we have. We don't have to complain. The coach must choose from the material that we have and try to win the games.
So far everything has been positive for Gordon Igesund. He's been doing well. But, you know, most people will judge him on whether he qualifies for the World Cup or not. If he's going to fail to qualify, everyone will be on top of him and they will want him to be replaced. That's just the nature of the job. It all depends on the results that we will be getting now! I mean, we need to beat Ethiopia as well as Botswana when they come this side. Beating Ethiopia will give us an edge because our last game will be at home. I think going to Brazil is very achievable. It depends on the mindset of the players, but the win away from home in Cameroon might have given them a lot of confidence and they'll go for the kill in Ethiopia. The players really need to step up! We can beat Ethiopia!
For the current crop things are much better when going into Africa, compared to our playing days. Nowadays the football association can hire a plane for them to go there two days before the game. They don't stay for a long time in an area where they end up getting frustrated. Safa always go out of their way to get them the best hotels. Normally when we went to play away, they were supposed to be organising the hotel and all those things for us. But, because we were new, we didn't have any experience of sending somebody out there before going to play there to make sure that we had a field where we could train and a good hotel.
I remember when we went to Nigeria the one time, it took us one-and-a-half hours from the hotel to the training ground. That was too much! Those kinds of things we manage to deal with these days because the team manager of the national team flies over a few weeks before the game to check the facilities and other things. In that way we manage to avoid those tricks that the home teams usually use.
My message to the players, they should go out there and make South Africa proud. They know that they are representing 55 million people from South Africa. We'll all be supporting them and looking forward to them coming back with the three points. After the win on the weekend against the Central African Republic we have great confidence in them and we all want to see the team going to compete in the World Cup next year. I'm sure everybody will be happy to see them succeeding in their mission in Addis Ababa!
Phil Masinga,
Bafana Bafana legend
