Turning emotional heartache into football success is Bafana Bafana’s clear quest in Durban this week.
Shakes Mashaba’s side get down to serious preparations at the People’s Park today, after they made a quiet entry into the city yesterday and went to visit the grave of murdered goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa in Heroes Acre in Chesterville.
They were met there by Meyiwa’s father, Samuel, and then journeyed to the family residence in uMlazi to pay further respects.
This meant no training session was held yesterday and the players were allowed to relax at the team hotel on the beachfront while trying to put the Meyiwa tragedy behind them.
Overseas-based midfielders Andile Jali and Dean Furman were among the players who were available to visit the grave. Mashaba, is likely to do more mental work with his men before Saturday’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, having noticed how Orlando Pirates struggled to get going again without Meyiwa at the weekend. The Buccaneers went down to SuperSport in the Telkom Knockout semi-finals in Soweto seven days after the player’s funeral.
Moreover, it was not a perfect opening day of the camp in Durban in terms of player availability, as Bidvest Wits midfielder Sibusiso Vilakazi was ruled out because of a toe injury and team management were worried about a breakdown in communications with Sweden-based midfielder May Mahlangu.
They were also waiting for Belgium-based goalkeeper Darren Keet to report for duty late yesterday, while defender Anele Ngcongca and diminutive midfield schemer Thulani Serero were only scheduled to arrive today from Belgium and the Netherlands respectively.
Any possible replacements will probably be revealed by Mashaba today.
The 64-year-old coach has to name a new captain as well because Meyiwa had the armband during the injury-enforced absence of permanent skipper Itumeleng Khune.
The city fathers have called on Durbanites to rally behind the national team and do justice to the fact that the fixture was moved from Nelspruit to Durban after Meyiwa’s death.
Mayor James Nxumalo said the city was pulling out all the stops to ensure spectators would enjoy a hassle-free and safe game of football at Moses Mabhida on Saturday afternoon.
Bafana can secure their Afcon berth by completing a qualifying double over the Sudanese before they go to the ever-daunting Nigeria for the final qualifier next Wednesday.
But the venue for the biennial continental tournament in January is still up in the air as host nation Morocco have requested that the Confederation of African Football (Caf) postpone the biennial continental showpiece because of Ebola fears.
Caf are, however, adamant that the January to February show must go on and might have to find an alternative host country.
South Africa have already ruled themselves out for financial reasons.
And in Cairo today, Issa Hayatou will move to avoid having his reputation as Caf president tarnished by what would be a first cancellation of the Afcon finals since the inaugural tournament in 1957.
The Cameroonian will most likely announce either of Gabon, Ghana or Nigeria as host of next year’s tournament.
The three countries have been among the names bandied about as potential replacement hosts and are the only ones not to have publicly confirmed or denied their availability.
It’s another off-the-field concern for Mashaba’s men after the joy of going four games unbeaten in the qualifying programme, which put them top of their group.
They are yet to win a home match. - The Star