Shakes was right to drop Serero By Jonty Mark Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba. Pic: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images. I have had a few days to ponder Shakes Mashaba’s decision to leave Thulani Serero out of the Bafana Bafana squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations finals. And in between the New Year revels, I have come to one sober conclusion – Mashaba was absolutely correct to leave ‘Cream’ out of his squad for Equatorial Guinea. At first, sitting in the press conference room last week at the World of Beer in Newtown, I was stunned as Serero’s name was not on the list of the 23 men to do battle in the finals later this month. How could Mashaba, I wondered, leave out the best South African player of his generation? Serero is a supremely talented midfielder, playing consistently at Ajax Amsterdam in a tough league, and in November’s Afcon 2015 qualifier against Sudan, he gave his best performance to date in a Bafana shirt. Yet as details emerged of the reason for Serero’s omission, it became clear that the only logical route was to drop the 24 year-old. Serero finished the Eredivisie season on December 21, playing in a 2-0 win for Ajax Amsterdam at Excelsior. He then travelled to Johannesburg, but did not make an appearance at Bafana’s provisional Boxing Day mini-camp. Belgium-based Darren Keet, Anele Ngcongca, Ayanda Patosi and Andile Jali, along with Bournemouth’s Tokelo Rantie all turned up at some point. Bafana’s most recent captain Dean Furman did not, but he is playing games for Doncaster in England’s League One. Serero had no such commitments, and chose not to appear. I have been told that Ajax Amsterdam told the South African Football Association that Serero was tired and needed time to recuperate. ‘Tired’. Remember May Mahlangu? He was ‘tired’ for the November Afcon qualifiers and has now been banned by the South African Football Association. What sort of example does it set to the rest of the Bafana squad if Serero is given special treatment by Mashaba? The Bafana coach has consistently preached the need for pride in wearing the Bafana shirt, the team over the individual. And I have little doubt that it is this that was the main motivation behind him dropping Serero. Serero must know this about Mashaba’s character too, and in some sense must have known his decision not to show up for the mini-camp was only going to cause trouble. My only criticism of Mashaba is that I feel he should have given a better explanation at the press conference than “Serero is not in the team, other players proved to be better than him”. To my mind, there is no Bafana midfielder “better” than Serero if quality on the field of play is taken into account. As such it is a shame he is not going to be in Equatorial Guinea. But he has rightly been sacrificed for Mashaba’s team ethic. The Bafana coach’s beliefs have worked for him thus far – Bafana, after all, qualified surprisingly smoothly for Afcon 2015. Let’s hope they continue to surprise in Equatorial Guinea in a couple of weeks time.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 13:59:08 +0000
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