Shakes Mashaba is likely to leave the South African side at the COSAFA Castle Cup next week and head to the draw for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Cairo‚ he has told Times Media Digital.
The World Cup draw takes place on next Friday‚ one day before the final of the regional competition‚ which means Mashaba could extend his stay to the semifinals of the COSAFA tournament.
“I hope I go there‚” Mashaba told Times Media Digital‚ before adding he had no preference in who the country might draw.
“There is no easy opposition lately. Now football has become such a big business to the extent that countries are re-grouping.”
Mashaba cites the example of Guinea-Bissau‚ a minnow nation who have bolstered their national team with Portuguese players that have links back to the country and have qualified for the 2017 African Nations Cup.
“Countries have realised that football is not just football‚ there are a lot of things that it does for a country.
Everybody wants to see themselves playing in the World Cup‚ but unfortunately numbers determine who will go there. But we need to make sure we go to Russia.”
And the coach is adamant that despite few outsiders giving them a chance of making it to Russia‚ they can surprise‚ as they have done before.
“When we took over in 2014‚ we qualified for the African Nations Cup when nobody expected us to.”
Should Mashaba head to Cairo‚ then his assistant coach‚ Owen da Gama‚ who is head coach of the Under-23 side that makes up the vast majority of players in Namibia‚ will lead the team.
The World Cup draw will see five groups made up of four teams‚ with only the top teams qualifying for Russia. The qualifiers will start in October and will be completed in late 2017.
South Africa take on Lesotho in their COSAFA Castle Cup quarterfinal in Windhoek on Saturday.
Shakes Mashaba could leave Bafana in Namibia next Friday
Shakes Mashaba is likely to leave the South African side at the COSAFA Castle Cup next week and head to the draw for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Cairo‚ he has told Times Media Digital.
The World Cup draw takes place on next Friday‚ one day before the final of the regional competition‚ which means Mashaba could extend his stay to the semifinals of the COSAFA tournament.
“I hope I go there‚” Mashaba told Times Media Digital‚ before adding he had no preference in who the country might draw.
“There is no easy opposition lately. Now football has become such a big business to the extent that countries are re-grouping.”
Mashaba cites the example of Guinea-Bissau‚ a minnow nation who have bolstered their national team with Portuguese players that have links back to the country and have qualified for the 2017 African Nations Cup.
“Countries have realised that football is not just football‚ there are a lot of things that it does for a country.
Everybody wants to see themselves playing in the World Cup‚ but unfortunately numbers determine who will go there. But we need to make sure we go to Russia.”
And the coach is adamant that despite few outsiders giving them a chance of making it to Russia‚ they can surprise‚ as they have done before.
“When we took over in 2014‚ we qualified for the African Nations Cup when nobody expected us to.”
Should Mashaba head to Cairo‚ then his assistant coach‚ Owen da Gama‚ who is head coach of the Under-23 side that makes up the vast majority of players in Namibia‚ will lead the team.
The World Cup draw will see five groups made up of four teams‚ with only the top teams qualifying for Russia. The qualifiers will start in October and will be completed in late 2017.
South Africa take on Lesotho in their COSAFA Castle Cup quarterfinal in Windhoek on Saturday.
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