Bullish Liberia coach raises Bafana legend Tovey’s ire: ‘He’s given SA motivation’ | Sport

Aubrey Modiba (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

• 1996 Afcon-winning captain Neil Tovey believes Bafana Bafana can beat Liberia in Monrovia on Tuesday.
• A victory will ensure South Africa’s participation at Afcon in Ivory Coast next year alongside Morocco from Group K.
• Tovey was disappointed to see Bafana relinquish a two-goal winning scoreline against Liberia in a crunch match on Friday.

Liberia coach Ansumana Keita’s vow to ‘make South Africa suffer’ has raised the hackles of 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winning Bafana captain Neil Tovey, who says that kind of talk is the perfect motivation for the South Africans before their qualifier on Tuesday.

READ | ‘Emotions took control’: Bafana coach Broos apologises for behaviour after AFCON draw with Liberia

Keita was, naturally, in a buoyant mood on Friday when speaking to the media after his charges came from two goals behind to earn a well-deserved 2-2 draw to silence the home crowd at Orlando Stadium.

The Lone Stars coach vowed that Liberia would make Bafana “suffer” and that their home fans would make it an uncomfortable experience for the South Africans in the return leg on Tuesday (18:00, SA time) at the 22 000-seater Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia.

“The tactical strategy we’ll use to make South Africa suffer, it will show that, yes, we want to win. We’re not going to choke. We’re going to play. No matter what happens, we’ll play,” Keita said on Friday.

“South Africa is bigger than us in football and everywhere (sic) but we are more prepared than them at this time – mentally, physically and tactically.”

The draw to Liberia in Soweto placed Bafana’s Afcon qualification in jeopardy.

A victory for Bafana on Tuesday in what is expected to be a hostile Monrovia venue of screaming Liberian fans would ensure that Hugo Broos and his charges can board a flight in early January 2024 for the Afcon tournament in Ivory Coast.

A defeat to a team ranked 150th in world football, compared to Bafana who is ranked 67th, will signal the end of another disappointing Afcon qualification campaign for South Africa, as they failed to make the cut for the 2021 edition.

Meanwhile, a draw means South Africa and Liberia go into their final match against Morocco needing to either win or draw, depending on each other’s results.

If they end on the same points after all the games, then CAF’s tiebreaker rule will kick in.

Tovey told News24 he believes the Liberia coach should not have been that bullish in his post-match press conference after his side claimed a point against Bafana last week.

“How can he say, ‘We [are] going to make Bafana suffer in Liberia’? Keep your mouth shut, do the job and then say that,” Tovey said.

The former Kaizer Chiefs centre-back urged the Bafana players to use what Keita said as motivation and let his words be the fuel to their fire in the highly anticipated return fixture on Tuesday.

“If you want to motivate the [Bafana] players, I’d go and get that article and put it all over the change room,” he said.

“I mean, Bafana can win without that motivation. They have their own motivation and are a better team than Liberia.

“We can win away from home, and now you’re just giving them even more incentive [to do it]. We can definitely win the game there.”

‘Take control’

Tovey captained coach Clive Barker’s class of ’96 in Bafana’s only Afcon triumph, and the national team has been chasing shadows ever since.

After coming up short in 1998, failing to defend their title in the final after losing to Egypt, the trajectory of Bafana continues to fall backwards.

In the past seven Afcons, dating back to 2010, Bafana has failed to qualify for four tournaments – and that is a troublesome figure with the effects deeply rooted in South African football.

Bafana last qualified for the 2019 Afcon when they made it to the quarter-finals under then coach Stuart Baxter, before being knocked out by Nigeria.

“At the moment, we just don’t seem to be finding ways to take charge of games. We need to up the levels of our thought processes, our international thought processes. For example, coming back to the situation of the first goal,” Tovey reflects on Liberia’s first goal via a Tonia Tisdell free-kick on Friday.

“How’s the positioning of the defending in the first goal? You can see he’s going to hit the free kick in the near post. You’ve got to put somebody in a dead man’s space, you know, at the near post.”

Tovey was disappointed to see the national team relinquish a two-goal winning scoreline against Liberia in a crunch match.

“I don’t think we could have got off to a much better start than what we did.

“I mean, to get 2-0 up within 20 odd minutes, and the most disappointing fact about it is that there was no game management. You know, no one took control of the game.

“A two-nil up, then you’ve got to get that third goal and secure the whole game.

“But then you came out in the second half, and you don’t look like you’re at home. You don’t look like you’re the home team. That was disappointing.

“There’s no leadership on the field, you know, and there’s no leadership on the field to say. ‘Come on guys, let’s take control of the game, and you take control of our qualification.'”