Crucial for Bafana to be at 2030 World Cup, says Thalente Mbatha

Bafana Bafana midfielder Thalente Mbatha has spoken out on the importance of South Africa qualifying for the 2030 Fifa World Cup to be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

South Africa were knocked out of the current tournament by co-hosts Canada at their historic last 32 stage with a 1-0 defeat in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Mbatha said Bafana must take lessons from the experience and push for another qualification. The clash against the co-hosts looked to be heading for extra time, but South Africa were outdone by a 92nd-minute winner from Stephen Eustaquio.

Reflecting after the match as the squad prepared to head home, Mbatha said Bafana played some good football during the tournament and there is something to build on, especially given the young talents in their squad like Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Ime Okon, Relebohile Mofokeng and Thapelo Maseko.

Asked to sum up his tournament, where he played in South Africa’s four matches, the Orlando Pirates midfield hard man said a younger version of himself would be proud of his performances in North America. Mbatha started against Czechia and South Korea and was used as a substitute against Mexico and Canada.

“He [a younger Mbatha] would be proud of himself and the performances he put out there at the tournament. He gave his best in all the games he played and hopefully we will qualify for the next World Cup and inspire the people that are behind us,” the 26-year-old said.

“I hope we will be able to continue where we left off and be able to make better choices and performances. But I am proud of the team, we had the right attitude and it was just not our day against Canada.”

Bafana will be back in action soon because the qualifiers next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania start in September.

“It is for us to continue where we left off here at the World Cup. I believe in some matches we played our best football and it just was unfortunate that we lost in the last minutes against Canada.

“This experience is going to help us a lot when we continue playing and looking for better results.”

Bafana coach Hugo Broos showed bravery by fielding and blooding younger players on the global stage and they rewarded the coach with some impressive performances.

“We are going in the right direction. You can see that Mbekezeli is one of the best defenders and together with Ime Okon they put top performances. We only conceded four goals in four matches.

“It is something that is special for us and we believe we are going to build on this going forward. There are a lot of young players playing for South Africa and we can do better for the next World Cup.”

Bafana improved tremendously under Broos over the past five years with back-to-back Afcon qualifications, a bronze medal at one of those and their first progression past a World Cup group stage.

The coach had announced he will retire from coaching after this World Cup, but has made noises at the tournament he might be willing to reconsider for the short term.

“We are really grateful to the coach because he gave us belief and success as Bafana players. It’s a matter of us continuing where he left off if he decides to leave, because we don’t know what is going to happen. He said he is going to say it in the coming days, but for us it is to continue where the coach left off if he leaves.”

To play at this level is amazing for everyone because you play against some of the best players from around the world. It was a good experience and we can only grow from this and look forward to the future.

—  Thalente Mbatha

There was criticism of the team after their 2-0 opening match defeat against Mexico, but South Africans backed Bafana as the tournament progressed.

“It was a matter of us believing because we saw people were supporting us in South Africa. It is something we are really grateful for and it will forever be in our hearts.”

German-based centre-back Okon, 22, said it was amazing playing at the World Cup.

“To play at this level is amazing for everyone because you play against some of the best players from around the world. It was a good experience and we can only grow from this and look forward to the future.

“Our main target was to get to the round of 16, but the fact that we got to the last 32 is still a big achievement for us as a country.”