We are still on track – Mashaba

The coach of the South African Men’s u.20 National Team (Amajita), Shakes Mashaba, says he is not perturbed by the loss to Mali in their second game of preparations for the 2015 African Youth Championships qualifiers.

Shakes Mashaba has just been appointed at the National Head coach of Bafana Bafana on Saturday July 26. The much-anticipated announcement took place at SAFA House, when Dr Danny Jordaan unveiled the name of the new coach. He will first finish his commitment with the u.20 team currently playing Mali and Senegal.

Amajita lost 1-0 to Mali on Saturday July 26 in a match played on a waterlogged pitch – thanks to a 40th minute goal by Ambramane Fane at the Stade Modibo Keita in Bamako.

“It was another opportunity to expose the players to the conditions on the continent. If you look at the first half nothing was happening because of the heavy rain, and the pitch was badly affected. At some stage I thought the referee was going to stop the match, because I was already starting to worry about injuries to the players,” said Mashaba.

“Both sides could not play on that pitch. But it was good the game continued as it tested our boys’ character, and they somehow failed to think in order to adapt to the adverse conditions. In the second half we were a better side, even though we did not attack them as much as we should have, again because of the conditions.

“We did not also shoot enough towards goal, especially in those conditions when you cannot play a passing game. I also thought fatigue was setting in for our boys – perhaps the travelling and matches every three or four days is starting to take its toll, and you cannot blame them but it was a good exposure. The loss is not a train smash as it is part of preparations and helps us fix our problem areas.”

The South Africans were in Senegal on Sunday July 27 to prepare for a match with the hosts on Wednesday July 30. In the first of four matches Amajita were tied at 1-1 with Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou last week, Wednesday July 23.

“It is not so easy to judge on the improvement from the first match, which was a good game with perfect conditions and the boys expressed themselves well. I was very impressed with their performance, but today (against Mali) was not good to tell. Until we face Senegal, we will be able to compare the three matches and see if there is any improvement,” said Mashaba.

South Africa will face Ivory Coast in their last match of the tour of West Africa on Monday August 4, before returning home the next day.

These matches are in preparation for the 2015 African Youth Championships qualifier against Cameroon. The first leg will be played on Saturday August 16 in Yaounde, with the return leg staged a fortnight later in South Africa.