TheCable

South Africa’s coach, Shakes Mashaba, believes Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be a “defining moment” for his team.

Friday’s morale-boosting 3-0 win over Sudan in Omdurman comes against the backdrop of the Under-20 team’s qualification – also under Mashaba’s guidance – for the CAF Youth Championships that will be played in Senegal next year after beating Cameroon 2-1 in Polokwane to complete a 3-2 aggregate win.

The Bafana Bafana arrived back from Sudan on Saturday morning and proceeded straight to Cape Town to start preparing for the game against Nigeria.

“We are meeting our nemesis but my gut feel is that all that (never beating Nigeria) is about to change. Wednesday should be a defining moment,” he told Kick-off.com.

“Of late, Bafana Bafana had become a laughing stock and had lost credit within the football standing; and we need to restore that acclaim. We must bring back the pride to our national team and I am glad with the 3-0 win away from home. It is a beginning of that rebuilding process.”

Mashaba has left the U-20 position to concentrate on the senior team and said the win over Sudan was a great platform to build on.

“Once we weathered the storm in the opening minutes, in which they pumped long balls upfront, I knew we would achieve our goal of coming away with three points. And the boys stuck to the script.

“In the second half, we completely dominated the game and with clinical finishing, the scoreline could have been six, seven or eight. But the 3-0 win is quite encouraging and we need to maintain the momentum.”