Dino delay a setback
China-based striker a late arrival for key Seychelles qualifier, but Tau ready to lead line
ANY plans to have Dino Ndlovu lead the line for Bafana Bafana against Seychelles on Saturday are likely to be shelved after his late arrival due to a delayed flight.
Ndlovu is based in China and his trip home is the longest route of all the national team players, so an interruption to his travel itinerary meant he was most probably scheduled to land last night.
“He was very professional in that he sent me a picture from the airport of the board on which it said his flight was delayed. That’s not ideal because he will only have two days’ preparation,” said coach Stuart Baxter.
With Ndlovu scoring goals regularly for Zhejiang Greentown and Bafana experiencing a drought lately, he is an option, but his late arrival may draw a selection poser.
Baxter also said that defender Thapelo Morena had been replaced by Thami Mkhize after he hurt his quad muscle at the weekend, and that attacker Vincent Pule (cruciate ligament damage) would be withdrawn for Orlando Pirates teammate Thembinkosi Lorch.
Meanwhile, such is Percy Tau’s confidence that his form in the Belgium lower league will take him to an even better destination, the Bafana star is ignoring all the noise about him being too good for the Proximus League.
Tau has so far managed two goals and four assists in eight matches for Royale Union Saint Gilloise in the second tier following his loan move from English side Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of the season.
Brighton spent a reported record fee for a South African player to lure Tau away from Mamelodi Sundowns after a stellar 2017/18 campaign in which he was crowned PSL Footballer of the Season for league winners Sundowns.
Naturally, there have been questions over his temporary switch to Belgium given his talent and potential. But Tau, speaking for the first time about adapting to life in Europe and about the uproar that he’d joined a lesser league since moving, suggested he had almost paid no mind to what’s being said.
“I don’t think I can justify each and everyone’s opinion,” Tau said from the Bafana training session at Steyn City School ahead of the Seychelles game.
“We live in a society where everyone has a view on things, and for me this is just a different path – one which I have taken and chosen. I have done this before. I went to Witbank Spurs (on loan from Sundowns), and it was still worth it.
“I never had doubts in making decisions that a lot of people won’t agree with. It is always good to have that personal belief that things will get better and improve.”
Tau obviously believes he is growing at Royale and that Brighton’s decision to loan him out was to see him adapt to life abroad and get more game.
There has also been a positional change for Tau at his new club, but he sees himself as a versatile player.
“We play a 4-4-2 formation with two strikers and we play the same roles – he (fellow forward Youssoufou Niakaté, with 14 goals in 10 matches) has to defend and so do I. We just share the load, but I still play a similar position, just that there is some defending that needs to be happening that side,” said Tau, who could lead the line for Bafana against Seychelles on Saturday and away three days later.