Mongomo – A bullish Shakes Mashaba believes Bafana Bafana can win the Africa Cup of Nations despite the team fighting for their livelihood against Senegal tonight at the Estadio de Mongomo.
It’s crunch time for Mashaba’s charges after they lost their first match in Equatorial Guinea against Algeria. Bafana are bottom of Group C following their 3-1 defeat, while Senegal are second after their 2-1 win over Ghana.
Bafana now basically have to win both their remaining match against The Lions of Terenga and the Black Stars (Monday) if they want to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The coach, though, is confident that they will get over these two hurdles and progress all the way to the final.
“The feeling is still the same, it hasn’t changed. We still think we can go on and win the tournament,” Mashaba told reports at the pre-match press conference last night.
“The other team (Algeria) had a bit more luck on their side on the day, so that game didn’t dampen our spirits. We looking to go further in the tournament, and the furthest you can go is into the finals of this competition.”
But Bafana haven’t managed to beat Senegal in five meetings since 2002. The two sides have drawn three times, while the West African giants have managed to beat their southern rivals twice. Their last meeting at the Nations Cup was at Ghana 2008, when the two teams played to a 1-1 draw.
Some of the Senegalese journalists tried to remind Mashaba of their poor record against their team, but the coach was firm in his stance that they were going to win the match tonight.
In fact, he even tried to put some of the pressure on Senegal, by saying they would be desperate to win to qualify for the quarters with a match to spare.
“History is something good to reflect on. But we are in a different time and a different era. We will definitely make sure that we win this game tomorrow night,” Mashaba said.
The reaction to the loss against Algeria back home wasn’t great, and although the team is essentially still in a building phase, the South African public is expecting a good showing from the national team.
Meanwhile, all of Bafana’s players – except injured defender Rivaldo Coetzee – trained last night and have been declared fit to play after a few players were down this week with a stomach bug. Bafana also welcome back suspended defender Eric Mathoho and midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane after they missed the first match because of suspension.
“Mathoho and Yeye (are) going to be a big boost for us,” said midfielder Dean Furman, who was again at the coach and captain’s press conference last night.
“Obviously they weren’t available for the first match, but just their experience and know-how helped us going into the first match. Now they can play and it’s a big boost for us. It leaves the coach with a good headache.” - The Star