Polokwane – A veil of secrecy, almost litierary, surrounded the Senegalese camp Thursday with South African journalists kept at more than an arms’ length ahead of Saturdays 2018 World Cup qualifier against Bafana Bafana at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
The Group D leaders have been quietly going about their business at the Ranch Resort – some 25 km away from city centre with their own private training fields.
It’s been a no-go zone for the press, even their own press were only shuttled in from the reception area after coach Aliou Cisse had taken his men through their paces. It is some sort of suspicion that there are spies, and even Friday’s mandatory training session at the match venue will only be a formality, which will be followed by an official press conference.
In contrast, all of Bafana’s training sessions have been open to the public. Even after Shakes Mashaba suffered two injury blows with the withdrawal of midfielder Dean Furman and defender Tebogo Langerman, the coach didn’t think seal off his sessions.
Senegal’s squad is still intact. They were there, the big guns – Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Mame Diouf (Stoke City) and Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham), but were under strict instructions not to speak to the local media.
Senegal beat Cape Verde convincingly in their opening match of the World Cup qualifiers last month, a 2-0 win that affirmed their title as favourites to win the group, while Bafana held Burkina Faso 1-1 in Ouagadougou earlier that day.
Senegal go into Saturday’s clash against Bafana confident that they have worked hard enough to return home with maximum points, but so is Mashaba, who is under immense pressure to turn his side’s fortunes around at home following just two wins in 10 qualifiers in his tenure so far.
Follow Mazola Molefe on Twitter@superjourno
Independent Media