THE JOB IS ONLY HALF DONE FOR BAFANA

Despite finishing at the top of group A, it’s too early to celebrate because the Afcon trophy is still far from Bafana Bafana’s reach

After the 2-2 draw against Morocco last week Saturday, South Africa went into a football frenzy after the national side finished the group stages at the top of group A, guaranteeing the national side a spot in the 2013 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) quarterfinals.

The draw even had Gordon Igesund leaping about on the field upon the referee’s final whistle; a rare sight indeed. The last time Bafana Bafana made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament was in 2002, where they subsequently lost 2-0 to Mali.

After a long dry decade, the national team finds itself in the very same position once again against the very same team that knocked them out 10 years ago.
So far, Bafana Bafana have really done all of us proud by making it out of the group stages in one piece, but it is only the beginning of a very tough road phase in the tournament. We shouldn’t read too much into our advances so far because we are yet to meet the best teams in on the continent.

So far we have only managed to secure one win and two draws in the tournament. To me this simply means we haven’t hit the type of form or displayed the type of performance that can guarantee Bafana a shot at the title.
It is quite understandable that we do need to applaud the boys because they hardly ever do well, but let us not congratulate them in a way that makes them feel like they are champions already as this will deplorably induce complacency in the team.

Instead of inflating the player’s ego’s, we need to raise expectations and tighten the screws so that the team remains under pressure to perform and also makes sure that they remain focused on winning the continental title.
Teams like Ghana, Mali, Zambia and Cote D’Ivoire are all regulars of the Afcon quarterfinals, as well as the subsequent stages; and at this point, already have their sights fixed on advancing further in the tournament and eventually winning the coveted trophy.

Making it out of the group stages is not an achievement for these countries and we too should not treat it as such. It is therefore still a bit too early to be leaping around in excitement because we are only we are only halfway there.

The great global icon Nelson Mandela, who was the South African president when Bafana Bafana lifted the 1996 Afcon trophy, once said: “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
Let us all get behind Bafana Bafana once more and keep pushing them so that they may soldier on in the wake steeper hills to climb. Tomorrow’s match against Mali will be totally different from what we have come across this far.

What matters now is that fiercer competition awaits and we should focus on tomorrow’s 90 minutes against Mali. We need to defeat Mali and reclaim our spot as one of the leading football countries in Africa.