ARMCHAIR VIEW | Bafana Bafana’s historic World Cup qualification: A tribute to Philemon ‘Chippa’ Masinga

THE LATE PHILEMON ‘CHIPPA’ MASINGA would have approved. The goals that helped earn Bafana Bafana the ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals were of pure quality, reminiscent of the one the lanky striker scored way back in 1997 when South Africa qualified for the global soccer showpiece for the first time.

Back then Masinga smashed home the winner against Congo at a packed FNB Stadium to send all of the country chanting Siyaya e-France! as participation at the spectacle was attained.

The Mbombela Stadium was still fairly empty when Thalente Mbatha opened the scoring to settle the nerves which were fraught following the uncharacteristic goalless draw against Zimbabwe on Friday.

It was a thunderous shot from just outside the box and when Oswin Appolis made it 2-0 with yet another piledriver, it was as though the spirit of Masinga was hovering above the Mbombela arena – guiding Bafana to victory.

Of course, we did qualify for yet another World Cup four years after we’d made our debut at France ’98 – Bafana also making it to the 2002 tournament co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. The qualification for that edition was earned shortly before Appollis was born and Mbatha was just a few months old. Scorer of the third goal Evidence Makgopa was also in nappies back then.

The only World Cup the trio experienced was the one in 2010, but we had not earned qualification for that one on the field. Bafana got to play as hosts.

Understandable then that this trio, and the rest of their teammates, have carved their names into Bafana folklore with Tuesday night’s 3-0 thumping of Rwanda to see South Africa topping Group C.

No wonder the celebrations at the end of the match were wild, sports minister Gayton MacKnezie shouting Siyaya e-America! into the television cameras and Safa president Danny Jordaan flashing a rare smile.

It was the celebration by the man who would have been public enemy number one had we not qualified, that told the story of just what the victory meant.

Bafana team manager Vincent Tseka rushed to give coach Hugo Broos a very tight hug, no doubt relieved given that he had been pinpointed as the main culprit for those three points which were deducted from us after we’d used a suspended Teboho Mokoena in beating Lesotho back in March.

Tseka should still be punished, qualification for the tournament to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, though.

That Bafana managed to lift themselves up after the disappointing goalless draw against Zimbabwe on a night when pressure was so high with Benin in the driving seat spoke to the warrior spirit of the team.

Ronwen Williams said afterwards that he’d spoken to his troops about the importance of sticking together particularly even in times of need and when the chips are down.

And that’s exactly what Bafana did as they took the match by the scruff of the neck to send a message to Rwanda that there was not going to be a repeat of that first round 2-0 victory they enjoyed on the waterlogged pitch of Kigali at the beginning of the qualifiers.

When Mbatha opened the scoring early on with Nigeria leading 1-0 against Benin, hope sprang eternal in the surprisingly sparsely populated zebra-coloured arena.

But the 6pm kick-off meant many were still making their way from work and by the time Appollis made it 2-0 the crowd was sizable. There were many after the break and they made a great cacophony as they chanted Bafana to a historic victory with Makgopa sealing a 3-0 win with a header from a corner by player-of-the-match Appollis.

McKenzie was screaming Siyaya e-America! But you can bet the silver-haired Broos would rather go to Mexico for what would be a poetic ending to his coaching career, the Belgian septuagenarian having finished his playing career at the 1986 World Cup hosted by Mexico.