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Safa president Danny Jordaan believes Bafana Bafana’s dream of World Cup participation, known as “Project M” – from Maseru to Moscow – is on track.
Project M gathered momentum this week with Bafana qualifying for the final round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Jordaan said this also boded well for the association’s 2022 vision.
The project was started by coach Shakes Mashaba in Lesotho in 2013 when he won the Cosafa Under-20 tournament in Maseru with the ultimate goal of taking South Africa to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
This week, Jordaan hailed Mashaba, saying he was on track to deliver their targeted objectives.
“What was critical for our reputation was not to go out in the preliminary stages ... to show that we are strong,” said Jordaan.
“We have done very well as the association this year, and it was important to reach the last stages of the qualifiers. We will be among those fighting for a spot at the World Cup and this will give us at least another six matches to gel and compete at the highest level. From here, anything is possible, and we know it is not going to be easy.”
Jordaan said he was happy with the team’s overall performances after a shaky start in Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
He said Bafana’s performances against Angola justified Safa’s decision to take the team on a South American tour last month.
“People were questioning the wisdom of taking the trip. But in hindsight, it did us good, as it rekindled the winning spirit and mentality. There is an emergence of a new spirit and the decisive performance to finish the job.”
Jordaan said 2015 had been a particularly good year for his administration.
Besides participating in the Afcon finals in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, the national Under-20s competed at the CAF African Youth Championships in Senegal, the Under-17s qualified for the Fifa World Cup in Chile after finishing second at the African tournament in February, Banyana Banyana qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio and the national Under-23s are going to the CAF Under-23 Afcon tournament, where they will hope to emulate the women’s team and qualify for Rio too.
But Jordaan said that despite all these achievements, people would always judge Safa by the results of the senior national men’s team.
“It is Bafana that is the torchbearer – the carriers of the SA flag. They are the indicator of whether our football is doing well or not.”
