It’s a good thing that our country’s senior national team is led by a man of Shakes Mashaba’s calibre. Following the death – via a senseless shooting – of captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa, Bafana Bafana are likely to be in a bad state when they meet on Sunday.
But you can bet Mashaba will find a way to ease the pain of the loss and have his team ready to take on both Sudan in Durban next Saturday (November 15) and Nigeria four days later in their backyard.
Yesterday, at Safa House when he announced his squad for the two matches, Bra Shakes was clearly still hurting – the man revealing this much when he spoke of the difficulty of having had to erase Meyiwa’s name from his list.
But, in his own inimitable way, Mashaba managed to induce laughs from those gathered at the conference – dropping a joke here and there and giving a questioner a stern, yet playful look before responding.
That he joked that goalkeeper coach Lucky Shiburi will be in goal for the matches told the story of a man able to make light of a serious situation, if only to ease the tension.
This is why Shakes has always been a players’ coach – with him, what you see is what you get. And you can bet he will shed tears when the squad assembles on Sunday and during their trip to Senzo’s grave on Monday.
Yet, there is also no doubt he will drop a few Senzo jokes to remind his players of their deceased teammate’s character – such is the nature of the man.
He said yesterday that he might invite a psychologist and a pastor to address the squad to help them deal with the loss.
He is that authentic.
Once all that is out of the way, Bra Shakes is likely to deliver a motivational speech of epic proportions. Rest assured it won’t be anything like Al Pacino’s passionate “Inches” from Any Given Sunday but it will tug at the players’ heartstrings alright!
A realist, he will make the players aware that ‘life has to go on’ the circumstances of Senzo’s departure, notwithstanding.
“We’re going to stand up as men and represent the country and Meyiwa,” he said yesterday.
In a country that has seen many a coaches come and go after failing the country dismally despite being paid millions, the “Cheap Option” – as some called Mashaba when he was appointed – just happens to be the best.
And South Africa will see just why when Bafana walk onto the pitch against Sudan. - The Star