Bafana Bafana shift focus from AFCON to WC qualifiers

The South Africa 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations dust has settled down and quarterfinalists, Bafana Bafana will switch their focus to the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup qualifiers when they face the Central Africa Republic (CAR) later this month.

Bafana resume the “Road to Brazil” campaign with a clash against CAR on Saturday, 23 March 2013 at the Cape Town Stadium in a must-win situation for Gordon Igesund’s side.

This will be South Africa’s third match in the 2014 World Cup campaign following two draws against Ethiopia and Botswana last year.

Bafana Bafana are currently placed third in Group A with two points – two adrift of leaders Ethiopia, and just one behind second-placed CAR. Botswana is bottom of the table with one point.

SA Football Association (SAFA) media officer, Matlhomola Morake sat down with Bafana Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund to talk about the upcoming qualifiers.

Question: You must be looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers, how will you be approaching them?

Gordon Igesund: The AFCON tournament is a totally different competition altogether.  In the AFCON I had to select a team that would play a tournament, a match every three or so days. You had to consider a lot of things, look at different situations like what would happen if things were to go the other way. You had to also think about the next game. Now I have to select a team for a particular game. Now you can pick a team and not be concerned about what happens if two players get injured.  There is no need to worry much about extra back-up in certain situations.

Question: What have you been doing since the end of the tournament?

GI: My technical team and I have been watching a lot of games since the re-start of the PSL. When I was in hospital, they went on about the job. I have received reports about players and matches and now that I am out of hospital and fully recovered, I am also watching the matches again. We have to pick a team that has to perform and hopefully that will see us qualify for the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup. Now it is just a matter of picking the team that will play this one particular match and get the three points.

Question: Can we expect any changes to the playing personnel?

GI: Yes there will be a couple of changes. Like I said before, when you pick a team for the tournament you have to cover all your bases. But picking a team for a once-off match, you can have luxury in certain departments, like I don’t need too much cover in defence. During AFCON I had two players for every position, and unfortunately I can only make three substitutions, so it is pointless to have six players as cover. The team will be a lot more offensive.

Question: A great momentum was created during AFCON 2013, can we continue with that?

GI: It is very important that we do, the players are on a high at the moment and we need to continue from where we left off. The vibe around this team is very positive and I want to maintain that spirit.

We lost to Mali on penalties, and I can safely say we ended the tournament unbeaten in 90 minutes in four matches. Having said that I think the players have learnt a lot from this tournament, and I think in the short space of time we had, the players adapted very well. I am thrilled with the way they responded. But also there are a few areas that we need to fix. There are a few players that are coming back from injury that I need to have a good look at over the next couple of days like Morgan Gould, Ayanda Xulu, Bevan Fransman and Daylon Claasen.

Question: How different are the challenges of a tournament and that of a qualifier?

GI: The challenges are the same, every game you play you want to win. But this is a different scenario in that we are not in a good position in the qualifiers. We have played two games and are sitting on two points when we should be having more than that. We have dropped four huge points and are left with four games, so we are basically playing catch-up. We are in a situation where we almost have to win every game.                                         

We are starting from the bottom in respect of points that we should have gained. If we had one win and a draw it would have made a huge difference. We also understand that qualifying for the World Cup is huge for us, and if we had those extra points it would be a different story, so we can’t afford to lose, that is the bottom line.

Question: How important is this clash against CAR?

GI: The first match of the qualifiers (I mean after the AFCON) is very important because at the moment CAR are above us on the standings, and we need to beat them to overtake them. Should we achieve that, then psychologically we have achieved something and then we can get the momentum going. That is why I say there are no other thoughts other than winning because we are all aware that a draw will not help our cause. And sometimes when you go out knowing what you have to do, it becomes a little bit easier because the players know we have to win.