From being in total command of the group to doing a cheek-to-cheek dance with the deflating possibility of failing to banish a 16-year absence from the greatest football stage in the globe. That is the stark reality staring Bafana Bafana in the face.
The sound of the final whistle at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday night blared like a chilling warning: the worst is yet to come.
Against the backdrop of being docked points for playing an ineligible player, Hugo Broos sought to galvanize the nation by making a promising pledge: Bafana will fight like lions in the penultimate match of a push for a place at the 2026 World Cup.
Alas, tried as Bafana did down in Durban, their spirited effort came to naught. Twice their shots ricocheted off the woodwork. Once their goal-bound strike was cleared off the line.
They threw everything at the stubborn Zimbabwe Brave Warriors whose rearguard remained resolute. They found Washington Arubi a defensive curtain wall in human form.
The rub of the green just did not favour the men clad in all green.
Hoping against hope
From being in total command of group C, Broos and his men stood in a corridor of uncertainty, their fate out of their control, hoping against hope.
Hope alone won’t help. Not even God. The holy book says he helps those who help themselves. So, we have a job to do, Bafana bakithi. Our job is to beat Rwanda. One positive from the Friday of misery is the fact that Nigeria won, breathing life back to their own campaign, which would have crashed without a win.
The 2-1 triumph over Lesotho gave wind beneath the wings of the Super Falcons. Suddenly they are just one point behind South Africa.
That result infused Nigeria with renewed belief that they can also win the group, if the permutation goes their way, meaning bury Benin in a glut of goals and Bafana lose to Rwanda.
By some strange twist of fate, Nigeria, our biggest rivals, find themselves in a position where the pursuit of their goal can benefit Bafana. But only if Bafana don’t falter against Rwanda.
Plenty to play for
There’s still plenty to play for on pitches in Uyo and in Mbombela on Tuesday.
We have no business being in this position. Damn you, Vincent Tseka. Even with this Zim draw, Bafana would still be leading the group. That one point kept the pulse and would have been three had Broos’s boys been more clinical.
But let Bafana take all the rage out on Rwanda. They owe us one. This game was always poised to serve as payback.
If you have a teabag memory, you will not recall that Rwanda hosted Bafana on a pitch worse than a cabbage patch. They beat Bafana 2-0 in the opening round of the qualifiers on that stitched up, uneven waterlogged artificial surface.
Broos and his boys have not forgotten that. All is not lost. We were sad. We are down. Stranger things have happened in football.
A little miracle
It’s the last throw of the dice. A little miracle on Tuesday we still qualify. We don’t have it in our hands anymore.
We have to try and win the game, and then see what happens. It’s still possible. We have go on believing that maybe with a little miracle, we still can qualify.
It will be very important what happens in the Nigeria game against Benin. We will see what the result will be there.
But, on the other side, we don’t really have to look. If we win the game we will see what happens. That is the most important thing.
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