I hate to be a pessimist about things, but let’s celebrate Bafana Bafana’s qualification to this year’s Afcon while it lasts.
South Africa booked their place for the Egypt tournament in June-July with a 2-1 win over Libya away in the final round of qualifiers.
And even though it’s great to be back at a major tournament, Stuart Baxter and his team are still a long way off from being one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
But before I go trashing our beleaguered football team, let’s look at the positives as Bafana finally took a step in the right direction.
This is only the third time since 2008 SA have made it to the continental showpiece.
To put it another way, it’s the third in six tries.
And while that is obviously not good enough for the amount of money we put into our domestic league, it’s a seat at the table.
Looking at their record to secure passage from Group E, Bafana were undefeated, with three wins and three draws to book a second-place finish behind Nigeria.
Also, the dubious penalty the Libyans equalised from was only the second time Baxter’s manne conceded - the only other time was Buhle Mkhwanazi own goal in a 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles.
In that match at Soccer City, Bafana came from behind to secure that crucial point.
And the way Bafana went for the win against Libya despite just needing a draw to confirm qualification must be commended.
Now on to the cons.
As always, goals scored was a big problem for our national team.
In their six matches, Bafana scored 11 goals. That put them behind Nigeria and Libya.
SAVES: Goalkeeper Darren Keet
Another downside to the scoring equation is that only two goals were scored by PSL-based players - strikes from Thulani Hlatshwayo and Teboho Mokoena came in the 6-0 pakslae of the Seychelles - and remember Bafana couldn’t score once against the same opposition in the return leg.
Yip, Bafana never make it easy on themselves and seem to take one step forward and then one back, giving you the feeling that they are not progressing as a unit.
And ahead of the tournament, Baxter will have to iron out those problems.
For the Libya game, the coach tried a new formation. A post in Bafana’s official Twitter feed put that down as a 3-3-2-2.
That looks narrow, but in reality, it’s a hybrid of a 3-5-2, with the two wide men in the lower midfield block playing as wingbacks, who tuck in to help anchorman Dean Furman shield the three-man defence or drop back to help the backline.
This will take some understanding by those players to get their positioning right as they have to cover a lot of ground because they have to add width to the attacking two.
In theory, their hustle helps the team become a more versatile unit and with lots of defensive stability.
But it doesn’t always work like that and that was pretty evident with the number of saves goalkeeper Darren Keet had to make to keep Bafana in the game.
Bafana only had their first real attack late in the first half and that came from a spell of possession, rather than the counters from the wings.
Which brings us to the two advanced midfielders and twin strikers.
WORK: Coach Stuart Baxter
Once again this front four is not as it seems.
With Percy Tau being more mobile with the ball than Lebo Mothiba in the frontline, Tau is looking to take on players, while Mothiba drags away defenders to create space for both Percy and the supporting midfielders.
Temba Zwane and Kamohelo Mokotjo manned the auxiliary attacking positions, starting from deeper to give Tau options to play short passes off.
And while their play will get fans on their feet, it feels they are over-committing in attack once the wide men join up, leaving SA open to counters.
But all in all, it’s a solid formation, which when Bafana lack attacking rhythm from the advanced midfielders, means the wingbacks play deeper in defence and will spring quicker on counters.
With an insurance policy of defence, coach Baxter now has to work hard on his team to risk meeting the public’s expectations at Afcon.
And with one quarterfinal appearance since 2004, you get the feeling that rewards are past due.