Bafana must win the remaining qualifiers, no excuses
As South African football fans, we are getting sick of Bafana Bafana needing favours from other teams to qualify for tournaments. This is their opportunity to be masters of their own destiny - no excuses!
Benedict, Sky, and Darren discuss Bafana Bafana's chances of qualifying for the World Cup, Happy Jele's arrest, Maritzburg United's MTN8 prospects, and Diego Costa's exclusion from Chelsea's UEFA Champions League squad. Listen to the podcast and read more in the blog below.
Despite shockingly losing 2-1 to Cape Verde in the World Cup qualifiers last Friday, Bafana Bafana can still qualify for next year's FIFA World Cup.
South Africa are tied on four points with Senegal, and both teams are just one point adrift of top-placed Burkina Faso. That means if Bafana Bafana win their remaining three matches, they qualify for Russia 2018, regardless of what happens in the other games in Group D.
The road to Russia has to start with a victory over Cape Verde on Tuesday night and we're playing the table toppers, Burkina Faso, next at home as well. The only match which we should be content with only one point in is the away fixture against Senegal.
Realistically, let's beat Cape Verde and Burkina Faso at home and hope by the time we need to face Senegal away, we already have secured World Cup qualification. I think if the coach makes the right selections, we will qualify.
We know he has worked with players like Eric Mathoho, Ronwen Williams, and Dean Furman before at SuperSport United and Kaizer Chiefs, but he must not choose players based on loyalty when he has players like Wayne Sandilands and Hlompho Kekana who have more continental experience and can do a better job.
Stuart Baxter must also not be too slow to react when the team is under pressure or his gameplan doesn't work out. No need to wait before it's too late to make substitutions.
We can do this, so no more excuses!