Bafana Bafana have another tricky- looking World Cup qualifying group.
To get to the final playoff round for one of Africa’s five tournament spots, they have to top a group ahead of Ghana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.
We actually have a rather good record against the Black Stars and the current group of players will be well prepared for those clashes with the two sides also group rivals in Afcon qualifying.
Our neighbours otherside the Limpopo are always up for a derby and could be the major test for Mofeli Ntseki’s manne.
Zimbos are often the stars of our top PSL sides.
We’ll have to look out for Khama Billiat, while Knowledge Musona was again a big target for Sundowns in the current window, before opting for an overseas club.
It’s gonna be an interesting pair of clashes if Zim can improve on their first-round exit at last year’s Afcon.
Then there is the unknown quantity of Ethiopia.
All we need to know is that we’ve drawn them in qualifying before.
On the road to Brazil 2014, we failed to beat them and they beat us to the top of qualifying group.
Whether or not our opponents are up for it or not, Ntseki’s manne themselves have to improve.
We all know of their inconsistency and lack of killer instinct, but travelling is also going to be a problem.
So let’s begin with our inconsistencies.
At last year’s Afcon, Bafana’s defence came undone at the most inopportune moments.
Against Ivory Coast, Bafana were quite solid against the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha for most of the match.
Looking to get on the front foot, the Ivorians finally found space to counter and a 1-0 defeat was all she wrote.
Same goes against Hakim Ziyech when we faced Morocco.
And we completed the shutout on Mo Salah in last 16 clash against hosts Egypt.
We will have these tests again from the Ayew brothers and Billiat. And we have to stay focused to keep things tight at the back.
On to our goalscoring problems, which we can spend the whole paper on.
The goals seemed to have dried up for Lebo Mothiba after a promising start to his international career.
It’s true he is a hard worker for his teammates, but he has lost his edge when chances fall to him
Molefi, though, seems like he is keen on a target man - a physical presence up front who can hold up play for more dangerous support to arrive.
The Bafana management have looked at Lars Veldwijk with unproven results.
Ntseki has also been courting Preston North End striker Tom Barkhuizen and whether the 26-year-old wants to join the Bafana ranks remains to be seen.
FAMILIAR FOE: Defender Sifiso Hlanti and his Bafana teammates will face Ghana again. Picture: BACKPAGEPIX
But there in our supporting cavalry, we may have the answer.
Behind that spearhead, we have the likes of Percy Tau, Temba Zwane, Afcon hero Thembinkosi Lorch, Kermit Erasmus, Lebo Maboe, Lebo Manyama.
We have loads of attacking options.
Perhaps we should look to a front three and drop the target man for a false nine.
False nine? I hear you ask in disbelief.
Yip, false nine. It’s not just Leo Messi and Roberto Firmino who can play that role.
Look, while Firmino doesn’t score half as many goals as Messi, they essentially have to occupy opposition defenders in the same way.
While Messi has taken up an even deeper role, he and Firmino are still dragging defenders out of position to create space for their support runners to run into.
Those “wide men” then become huge threats like Salah and Sadio Mane.
That’s why David Villa and Luis Suarez scored tons of goals alongside Messi.
What makes Messi more effective than Firmino is that he turns and drives at defences more often.
We have players capable of doing that - Erasmus, Tau, Manyama, Lorch.
Molefi can afford to play with a front three by setting up a solid and dynamic midfield and defence.
It will hopefully make our attack better.