Bafana are an embarrassment
IT WAS always going to be a tough assignment to beat Senegal twice in the space of five days, but it doesn’t lessen the disappointment of missing out on a World Cup yet again…
Since the heady days of winning the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and qualifying for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, the national team has lurched its way through several unsuccessful Afcon and World Cup qualifying campaigns, including the ignominy, in 2010, of being the first host nation to not progress past the first round of a World Cup.
Since 2001 there have been 17 changes of coach, with Shakes Mashaba having three spells, Pitso Mosimane, Carlos Alberto Parreira and Stuart Baxter having two spells each. There is no continuity with coaching staff and an endless struggle of coaxing overseas-based players back for national call-ups.
Baxter began his second tenure with much optimism; however, he has been accused of preferring his former SuperSport United players and the back-to-back losses to minnows Cape Verde have marked a new low for the national team.
South Africa has one of the richest, most established and competitive leagues on the continent, yet Bafana are 74th in the world rankings and 16th in Africa. Being the continent’s perennial “under-achievers” is an unacceptable tag for South Africa to be labelled with.
Over the past 20 years, since the national team’s last success, three things have stood out.
1. The South African hierarchy is out of touch with the game, its players and local coaches.
2. There is no South African style of play or blueprint for the way the national team should play.
3.The players, especially the overseas-based ones, seem to treat playing for Bafana as more of a chore than an honour.
There needs to be a national footballing Indaba where the like of Lucas Radebe, Doctor Khumalo, Eric Tinkler, Pitso Mosimane, Gavin Hunt, Neil Tovey and Benni McCarthy give their valuable input and ideas which should be taken on board.
There is no better time than now to wipe the slate clean and start channelling every resource and effort into qualifying for the global showpiece in Qatar in 2022.