By Tiso Black Star Group DIGITAL
Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba performed a spectacular about-turn from the time the team left OR Tambo Airport when he complained about taking an Under-23 side to the Cosafa Cup‚ to practically claiming it as his idea after that combination won the tournament at the weekend.
Certainly‚ by the end of taking charge of a competitive 3-2 win in the match of the tournament in the final against Botswana at Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek‚ Mashaba had been won over to the idea.
It will have helped Mashaba no end‚ too‚ that winning his second Cosafa Cup‚ which‚ he also won in 2002‚ and the fourth for South Africa‚ will have brought some reprieve to the coach having failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Mashaba had expressed his concerns about taking an U-23 team to the Cosafa‚ and anger that South Africa were not participating with a senior team when they left OR Tambo International Airport on June 15.
However the tournament has proved to be the best staging ground for South Africa’s shadow Olympic side as part of their preparations for the Games in Brazil in August.
By the end of the tournament you might have thought the whole exercise was Mashaba’s idea.
“Congratulations to Botswana. I have been saying to people countries are regrouping – football is becoming important now‚” Mashaba said after a hard-fought final.
“It’s no more a walkover in any game. You saw that all 14 nations at the Cosafa Cup played very good football.
“Going back home‚ it is time we need to change our way of thinking. If we want to claim ourselves the big ones‚ we’ve got to understand that it starts with your region.
“If you look at our clubs in Africa‚ they are not doing well. This is the 20th edition of Cosafa and we’ve only won it three times .
“Which is not enough for a nation that aspires to be the best in Africa.
“So I think we have got to make sure that when the next edition comes we have to win it. The more we do‚ the more people will respect the Cosafa Cup.
“A lot of people were a bit worried that we brought in a young team. If we don’t develop young kids the future is bleak.”
Regrettably‚ despite a recent meeting held with sports editors where Mashaba had apologised for over-stepping the line for name-calling directed at the journalists‚ lack of cooperation and accusing them of conspiracies against him‚ the coach was up to his old antics again in less than no time.
He refused to speak to the only two South African journalists who had travelled to cover the Cosafa Cup – one from SABC Radio and the other from Tiso Blackstar – about the World Cup draw on Friday‚ supposedly because he was focusing on the final on Saturday.
Yet somehow a press release was sent out on Friday evening quoting the coach on the draw‚ where Bafana are in Group D with Senegal‚ Burkina Faso and Cape Verde Islands.
He then shunned the two journalists in the mixed zone after the final on Saturday night‚ looking in the other direction and walking off when they were trying to ask questions of the coach.
As long as Mashaba continues to flirt with the self-destruct button of picking fights with the media‚ Safa should have concerns because the coach has a big responsibility taking on the 2018 World Cup qualifiers‚ where a talented emerging Bafana generation have been handed a winnable group.
His conduct toward the press in Namibia took the shine off a fine win by the U23s‚ twice coming back from a goal down to beat a Botswana side who fought for everything in the Cosafa final.
The South African U-23s continued to Japan on Sunday‚ where they will meet Japan’s U-23s on Wednesday.
Tiso Black Star Group Digital
Mashaba does about turn after U-23s clinch Cosafa title
Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba performed a spectacular about-turn from the time the team left OR Tambo Airport when he complained about taking an Under-23 side to the Cosafa Cup‚ to practically claiming it as his idea after that combination won the tournament at the weekend.
Certainly‚ by the end of taking charge of a competitive 3-2 win in the match of the tournament in the final against Botswana at Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek‚ Mashaba had been won over to the idea.
It will have helped Mashaba no end‚ too‚ that winning his second Cosafa Cup‚ which‚ he also won in 2002‚ and the fourth for South Africa‚ will have brought some reprieve to the coach having failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Mashaba had expressed his concerns about taking an U-23 team to the Cosafa‚ and anger that South Africa were not participating with a senior team when they left OR Tambo International Airport on June 15.
However the tournament has proved to be the best staging ground for South Africa’s shadow Olympic side as part of their preparations for the Games in Brazil in August.
By the end of the tournament you might have thought the whole exercise was Mashaba’s idea.
“Congratulations to Botswana. I have been saying to people countries are regrouping – football is becoming important now‚” Mashaba said after a hard-fought final.
“It’s no more a walkover in any game. You saw that all 14 nations at the Cosafa Cup played very good football.
“Going back home‚ it is time we need to change our way of thinking. If we want to claim ourselves the big ones‚ we’ve got to understand that it starts with your region.
“If you look at our clubs in Africa‚ they are not doing well. This is the 20th edition of Cosafa and we’ve only won it three times .
“Which is not enough for a nation that aspires to be the best in Africa.
“So I think we have got to make sure that when the next edition comes we have to win it. The more we do‚ the more people will respect the Cosafa Cup.
“A lot of people were a bit worried that we brought in a young team. If we don’t develop young kids the future is bleak.”
Regrettably‚ despite a recent meeting held with sports editors where Mashaba had apologised for over-stepping the line for name-calling directed at the journalists‚ lack of cooperation and accusing them of conspiracies against him‚ the coach was up to his old antics again in less than no time.
He refused to speak to the only two South African journalists who had travelled to cover the Cosafa Cup – one from SABC Radio and the other from Tiso Blackstar – about the World Cup draw on Friday‚ supposedly because he was focusing on the final on Saturday.
Yet somehow a press release was sent out on Friday evening quoting the coach on the draw‚ where Bafana are in Group D with Senegal‚ Burkina Faso and Cape Verde Islands.
He then shunned the two journalists in the mixed zone after the final on Saturday night‚ looking in the other direction and walking off when they were trying to ask questions of the coach.
As long as Mashaba continues to flirt with the self-destruct button of picking fights with the media‚ Safa should have concerns because the coach has a big responsibility taking on the 2018 World Cup qualifiers‚ where a talented emerging Bafana generation have been handed a winnable group.
His conduct toward the press in Namibia took the shine off a fine win by the U23s‚ twice coming back from a goal down to beat a Botswana side who fought for everything in the Cosafa final.
The South African U-23s continued to Japan on Sunday‚ where they will meet Japan’s U-23s on Wednesday.
Tiso Black Star Group Digital
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