Percy Tau believes Bafana Bafana's past failures to qualify for major tournaments shouldn't be the yardstick used to judge the current squad.
The current Bafana squad has against all odds come within just sight of qualification for the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup despite failing for the AFCON finals in a campaign that came to a crashing end earlier this year.
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Bafana face neighbours Zimbabwe tonight in a must-win game which could leave them through to the Play-Offs if Ghana somehow loses to Ethiopia.
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What cannot be ignored is just how Bafana have previously failed at the last hurdle.
"We cannot go to the past but only forward in the situation that we find ourselves in now," says Tau.
"The situations are different. The Afcon qualifiers are different to this one. We want to do better because we want to progress in our team. We would have loved to go to the AFCON for the second time but then that is not the situation. At the moment we want to do better than that.
"I have been in these situations where we want to qualify and we have our last games where we must get results, we did it only once. So, I'm a bit experienced to that now. Everybody wants to do better and try to put ourselves in a position that we will be proud of," he says.
After missing the games against Ethiopia, Tau has returned to the national team bubbling having started his career at Egyptian giants Al Ahly on a positive footing after scoring a brace on debut.
"It is always good to score on your debut because it takes away the pressure. It is always something that I have always done in my career. In Belgium, I scored on debut every time and it just didn't happen in England, but I think it puts you in a better space with your teammates who get to understand that you can also contribute to the team.
"I'm confident now that I have been playing and I feel different now. Everyone had to understand that I was not fit so I could not be selfish," says Tau.
The 27-year-old will start upfront tonight against Zimbabwe.