THERE'S not much harm done with a draw as Bafana Bafana's fate remains firmly in their own hands. But Polokwane served up a king-size anticlimax.
Coach Shakes Mashaba highlighted the frailties in South Africa's goalless draw against Congo in a clash that could have guaranteed qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations next year had Bafana been victorious.
But to quickly regroup, Mashaba said he had to take the positives and put in extra work to address the weakness - like his side's failure to win and score at home during this qualifying campaign.
The two Bafana wins have both come from away trips to Sudan last month and the same Congo in Pointe-Noire last weekend.
"What we have realised as the technical team is that we need match winners.
"The players we have selected in this team are the cream of the crop, but maybe if we keep looking and feel we have found others with the match intelligence to have killed this kind of game off, we can bring them in," said Mashaba.
"The players did show they were anxious when they started playing long balls to find the wingers, and maybe they had read in the papers that a win will help us qualify early.
"But we never talked about that because by right we should play six games in these qualifiers."
"We are also aware that playing at home is no longer a luxury. The players are more under pressure in front of their home crowd than they are when there's not a lot of noise."
The Bafana coach said he had also hoped the weather in Polokwane would be favourable.
"I prayed that it wouldn't rain because I know our players struggle in those kind of conditions.
"We are not disappointed at all with the result and we still say there's no need to press any panic buttons because we still want to play for the remaining six points [against Sudan and Nigeria next month]," said Mashaba.
The coach added that he was still working on trying to get his young team to be more vocal on the pitch.
"Most of the time the players aren't talking and that is how they make mistakes.
"And Congo also improved from our first game. They realised we were quicker going forward and they kicked Thulani Serero out of the game," Mashaba explained.
Shakes to fix Bafana flaws
THERE'S not much harm done with a draw as Bafana Bafana's fate remains firmly in their own hands. But Polokwane served up a king-size anticlimax.
Coach Shakes Mashaba highlighted the frailties in South Africa's goalless draw against Congo in a clash that could have guaranteed qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations next year had Bafana been victorious.
But to quickly regroup, Mashaba said he had to take the positives and put in extra work to address the weakness - like his side's failure to win and score at home during this qualifying campaign.
The two Bafana wins have both come from away trips to Sudan last month and the same Congo in Pointe-Noire last weekend.
"What we have realised as the technical team is that we need match winners.
"The players we have selected in this team are the cream of the crop, but maybe if we keep looking and feel we have found others with the match intelligence to have killed this kind of game off, we can bring them in," said Mashaba.
"The players did show they were anxious when they started playing long balls to find the wingers, and maybe they had read in the papers that a win will help us qualify early.
"But we never talked about that because by right we should play six games in these qualifiers."
"We are also aware that playing at home is no longer a luxury. The players are more under pressure in front of their home crowd than they are when there's not a lot of noise."
The Bafana coach said he had also hoped the weather in Polokwane would be favourable.
"I prayed that it wouldn't rain because I know our players struggle in those kind of conditions.
"We are not disappointed at all with the result and we still say there's no need to press any panic buttons because we still want to play for the remaining six points [against Sudan and Nigeria next month]," said Mashaba.
The coach added that he was still working on trying to get his young team to be more vocal on the pitch.
"Most of the time the players aren't talking and that is how they make mistakes.
"And Congo also improved from our first game. They realised we were quicker going forward and they kicked Thulani Serero out of the game," Mashaba explained.
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