South Africa will wrap up their international football for the year 2016 when they face Mozambique in a friendly at the Estadio Nacional do Zimpeto in Maputo on Tuesday evening, kick-off at 19h00 CAT.
Bafana Bafana come into the game fresh from a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Senegal in a 2018 World Cup qualifier this past weekend.
While the result saw the team take a major step towards Russia 2018, the aftermath has seemingly thrown the camp into chaos, with coach Shakes Mashaba suspended after directing controversial comments towards SAFA president Danny Jordaan.
The FA have confirmed that Mashaba will face a disciplinary hearing and it could well be his last official event as South Africa coach.
“SAFA has deemed it necessary to employ disciplinary measures after a regrettable incident at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday,” the association said in a short statement, adding that assistant coach Owen da Gama would lead the side in Maputo on Tuesday.
“As is our custom in matters such as these, the association will not be making any further comments on this matter out of respect for the dignity of the head coach and the association and the legally privileged nature of such proceedings.”
Moreover, a SAFA official on Monday told Reuters that:”Mashaba does not know how to be graceful in victory.”
All this has thrown a cloud over the national team at a time when they should be celebrating a fantastic victory over a powerful Teranga Lions outfit which was generally viewed as the favourites in Group D of Africa’s qualifiers.
As for Mozambique’s Mambas, they suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Kenya in a friendly match in Kasarani over the weekend, though the result is of no real concern for coach Abel Xavier, who insists that he is building a team for the future.
“Kenya is a strong team and I am not ashamed to lose to them; they are building a team for the 2018 CHAN tournament, so it means they have a strong side and I am happy with the level of competition we got in the game,” he told SuperSport.
“I have always wanted to create a proactive team in Mozambique, and I believe we are getting there, because I have a good young team made up of players between 19 and 23 years, so these are players who have a big and long future in the team and I am confident in a few years we will be ready to face any team.”
Mozambique and South Africa have faced each other in five official matches, according to FIFA statistics, and Bafana Bafana have emerged victorious on all five occasions. Their most recent meeting was in the group stage of the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN), which SA won 3-1 in Cape Town.
