Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba has lost touch with the reality of his side's situation and is clutching at straws to explain the national team's failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa's position in Group M, sitting in bottom place on three points after home and away draws against Cameroon (2- 2 in Limbe on Saturday and 0-0 in Durban on Tuesday night), is desperate.
If Cameroon (eight points) or Mauritania (seven) win one more game, Bafana cannot win Group M even if the South Africans reverse their four matches without a win by beating Gambia away and Mauritania at home.
Mashaba astonishingly pronounced at a muddled post-match press conference which bordered on paranoia that he believed Bafana could still qualify as one of the two best runners-up.
"Truly speaking, we fluffed it in our first two games," he admitted but then added: "We still have six points to play for. Win the next two games and we have nine. Hopefully we can get one of the two slots for second-best team. So we are not going to throw in the towel."
It was pointed out that with Benin already on eight points on the runners-up table, and four other teams on seven, qualifying through that route would not be a realistic proposition. The coach became agitated.
"Let me ask you, with due respect, whose realistic is it going to be, mine or yours? You're raising a question of teams already being on eight points.
"So you're ruling us out on speculation. In football anything can happen."
South Africa started with a goalless home draw against Gambia, then a 3-1 away defeat to Mauritania. They had easily their best performance in the away match against Cameroon.
But needing a victory in Cameroon puts a team under enormous pressure.
When they could not win, Bafana could not lift themselves to beat the defensive Indomitable Lions in Durban. It did not lift the gloom that Mashaba points to tired old excuses rolled out by so many Bafana coaches before him of goal-scoring and lack of time to prepare national teams, as explanations for the side's poor campaign.
"The problem of scoring goals does not start here [with the national team]," the coach said.
"You will hear almost all PSL coaches after not winning a game speaking of the problem.
"Those are the things you cannot really address in the senior national team.
"You've got only three days to work with the players. And in training sessions you're talking tactical work, defending, set pieces. And by then before you could finish you are in a plane to go and play the match."
The coach - who last week made reference to journalists being against him - again hinted at a media conspiracy.
Asked how highly-rated Dutch-based star Kamohelo Mokotjo could have no role to play in the two games, Mashaba responded: "Some of the questions are practised. They come from somewhere.
He continued: "Listen, a player can be based anywhere - it does not mean he qualifies to play. We have training sessions where we look at players.
"I'm warning you, you're killing players by doing that. And you're causing players to have hatred for coaches.
". I'm a human being, I've got blood, I've got family, I've got grand-kids. Imagine when they read nonsense like '#Shakesmustfall'.
"My grandkids read that and say, 'What's wrong with our grandfather'?"
Bafana meet Gambia on the weekend of June 3-5 and Mauritania on September 2-4.l See page 25
'Shakes has lost the plot'
Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba has lost touch with the reality of his side's situation and is clutching at straws to explain the national team's failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa's position in Group M, sitting in bottom place on three points after home and away draws against Cameroon (2- 2 in Limbe on Saturday and 0-0 in Durban on Tuesday night), is desperate.
If Cameroon (eight points) or Mauritania (seven) win one more game, Bafana cannot win Group M even if the South Africans reverse their four matches without a win by beating Gambia away and Mauritania at home.
Mashaba astonishingly pronounced at a muddled post-match press conference which bordered on paranoia that he believed Bafana could still qualify as one of the two best runners-up.
"Truly speaking, we fluffed it in our first two games," he admitted but then added: "We still have six points to play for. Win the next two games and we have nine. Hopefully we can get one of the two slots for second-best team. So we are not going to throw in the towel."
It was pointed out that with Benin already on eight points on the runners-up table, and four other teams on seven, qualifying through that route would not be a realistic proposition. The coach became agitated.
"Let me ask you, with due respect, whose realistic is it going to be, mine or yours? You're raising a question of teams already being on eight points.
"So you're ruling us out on speculation. In football anything can happen."
South Africa started with a goalless home draw against Gambia, then a 3-1 away defeat to Mauritania. They had easily their best performance in the away match against Cameroon.
But needing a victory in Cameroon puts a team under enormous pressure.
When they could not win, Bafana could not lift themselves to beat the defensive Indomitable Lions in Durban. It did not lift the gloom that Mashaba points to tired old excuses rolled out by so many Bafana coaches before him of goal-scoring and lack of time to prepare national teams, as explanations for the side's poor campaign.
"The problem of scoring goals does not start here [with the national team]," the coach said.
"You will hear almost all PSL coaches after not winning a game speaking of the problem.
"Those are the things you cannot really address in the senior national team.
"You've got only three days to work with the players. And in training sessions you're talking tactical work, defending, set pieces. And by then before you could finish you are in a plane to go and play the match."
The coach - who last week made reference to journalists being against him - again hinted at a media conspiracy.
Asked how highly-rated Dutch-based star Kamohelo Mokotjo could have no role to play in the two games, Mashaba responded: "Some of the questions are practised. They come from somewhere.
He continued: "Listen, a player can be based anywhere - it does not mean he qualifies to play. We have training sessions where we look at players.
"I'm warning you, you're killing players by doing that. And you're causing players to have hatred for coaches.
". I'm a human being, I've got blood, I've got family, I've got grand-kids. Imagine when they read nonsense like '#Shakesmustfall'.
"My grandkids read that and say, 'What's wrong with our grandfather'?"
Bafana meet Gambia on the weekend of June 3-5 and Mauritania on September 2-4.l See page 25
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