ARMCHAIR VIEW: You need a strong heart to be a Bafana Bafana fan

IT’S A GOOD THING I have a strong heart! How Hugo Broos survived last night I don’t know. The silver-haired Belgian must no doubt have aged a thousand times as Bafana Bafana contrived to take us back to those bad old days when they raised our hopes only to disappoint us.

The dream of a return to the World Cup final was so palpable I was already imagining myself in Mexico. But no, Ronwen Williams and Co opted to contrive with the inept administrators at the South African Football Association (Safa) by making the trip to North America a far-fetched dream.

Failure to beat a Zimbabwe outfit that was reduced to 10 men early on after the break is not the sign of a team that wants to go mix it up with the world’s best on the game’s ultimate stage.

They are, of course, going to be saying they had chances and point to those shots by Mohau Nkota and Lyle Foster which ricocheted off the woodwork as a sign they were unlucky. Statistics will probably also count those as shots on target. The reality though is they were not.

The goalless draw against Zimbabwe at the Moses Mabhida Stadium should be penciled down as an episode in Hugo Broos’ brilliant reign best forgotten. Those close shaves, plus the Foster goalbound attempt that was cleared by a Zimbabwe defender, were all she wrote really because Bafana just did not look like they could score.

On a night when we anticipated a ruthless Bafana to make a mockery of Fifa's decision to dock them three points for having fielded a suspended Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho by slaying a Zimbabwe side that were already knocked out, South Africa’s senior national team huffed and puffed without ever really looking like they’d score.

I’ve covered football for three decades now and there are some matches you watch and you can tell that a team is just not going to score. This was one of those. Sipho Mbule had so many shots at goal but he just could not get them on target.

Such was their profligacy I started wondering if that question asked of Broos early in the week which I’d found laughable was perhaps not misplaced. The Belgian was asked why he did not include Bradley Grobler in the squad.

It seemed out of place, particularly given that Broos does not believe in old players. Add to that the fact Bafana had been winning and the question seemed silly. But without Iqraam Rayners, Bafana were bereft of a goal poacher who was sorely needed on the night.   

The disappointment of failing to beat Zimbabwe was compounded by Benin’s 1-0 victory over Rwanda, a result that sees them now leading us by two points with one match to go.

Yet all is not lost though because should we beat Rwanda we could still top the group provided Nigeria – who beat Lesotho 2-1 last night – win their last match at home to Benin.

It just wouldn’t be a Bafana qualification campaign for a major tournament without permutations coming into the picture would it.

To think we were cruising to book our place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by all of Mexico, Canada and the United States. And then they messed up that yellow card situation with Mokoena before the players did their part against Zimbabwe last night.

You need a strong heart to follow this South African national team. Fortunately I do.