Phakamani Mahlambi
The youngster’s star continues to rise ... to Bafana?
Bottom of the group at a continental showpiece. Sounds all too familiar to many an ardent Bafana Bafana fan right? This, however, was the state in which then three-time world champions Germany found themselves after Euro 2000, losing twice and managing a solitary draw against Romania to finish rockbottom of Group A. A drastic change was needed in German football. The answer? Youth. Since that forgetful outing at the turn of the century, Germany poured all their resources into development in the hope of rebuilding the national team from scratch, erecting 52 centres of excellence over the next decade, as well as 366 regional coaching bases where 1 300 full-time professional coaches were brought in to help produce the German stars of the future. The result? A minimum semi-final finish at the last three European Championships, culminating in a fourth star for Die Mannschaft as they took global honours at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Six members of that Mundialwinning squad had featured in the German side that beat England 4-0 in the European Championship Under-21 final five years earlier. The average age of Joachim Low’s squad in Brazil was an impressive 26.3 years – the sixth-youngest of the 32 teams at the global showpiece. Investing in youth – over time – works. South Africa may not have all the resources, or the thousands of coaches at present, but definitely has the talent. Phakamani Mahlambi, Percy Tau and Lorenzo Gordinho are just three of a number of eye-catching youngsters who have shone in the domestic league recently, and should no doubt form the spine of the future Bafana Bafana line-up. Billed as South Africa’s next Benni McCarthy, Bidvest Wits starlet Mahlambi is surely on the path to greatness. The November/December 2015 Absa Premiership Player of the Month, who then scored the winning penalty that secured South Africa’s berth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had been in fine scoring form for The Students before an ill-timed knee injury in February last year curtailed his progress as he spent the majority of 2016 on the treatment table. Such is Gavin Hunt’s belief in the 19-year-old that he threw him back into the starting line-up ahead of schedule for the last two games of the year, and was justly rewarded – two goals and an assist from a player who had not seen any first team action for ten months. Renowned Stars of Africa Academy boss Farouk Khan, who has spent a lifetime developing young talent and eyeing future gems, describes him as “a coach’s dream”. “Mahlambi is a brilliant player,” Khan tells KICK OFF. “You can’t fault him for anything – he’s got all the energy in the world. He’s a product of the School of Excellence, and what a talent – he’s a coach’s dream. He’s dynamic, strong and can go past defenders, and has an eye for goal – similar to Percy Tau – and I
“MAHLAMBI WILL BECOME ONE OF THE FUTURE STARS FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM.”
think both are phenomenal talents, and both are definitely players that should be looked at for the national team. With age on his side, Mahlambi will grow to become one of the future stars for the national team. I think he should definitely make his Bafana Bafana breakthrough
this year. He’s just come back from a serious injury, but you’ll never say he’s been injured.” Rather than throwing these talented youngsters straight into the deep end, Khan feels they should be brought into the mix as understudies to the established Bafana Bafana regulars, grooming them in the national team environment for the future, while adding a few experienced campaigners back into the fold as well. “Mahlambi should come in and be an understudy to Tokelo Rantie – we should stop selecting players that don’t have a role to play,” he says. “I believe a player like Kermit Erasmus should come back in – imagine Erasmus, Rantie and Mahlambi! We’ve got talent, and should not be in the situation we currently find ourselves, not qualifying for the African Nation’s Cup and so on. We shouldn’t, with the quality of players we have. And if we leave out the likes of Percy Tau and Phakamani Mahlambi, we’ll be doing ourselves an injustice.” Khan feels the much-publicised Vision 2022 – Bafana Bafana’s equivalent of the German development programme – has not followed its initial hype or promise, highlighting the absence of the above-mentioned starlets in the junior national teams. “Vision 2022 is one aspect, whether the vision is being exercised is another factor,” he says. “None of these players were part of the Vision 2022 development programme – for example, Mahlambi came through the School of Excellence, and found himself in the national U-23 team, having not made much of an impact in the U-17 or U-20 team. Tau didn’t feature much in the junior national teams either, so Vision 2022 cannot just be coined as the way our football has grown.” Despite this, Khan feels these youngsters will not benefit from national U-23 call-ups at present, rather favouring a senior call-up to mould them for what is expected of them in the near future. “We need to give these players the relevant experience so that come the following World Cup, they will be 25 and will already have x-amount of caps under the belt,” he reasons. “I wouldn’t want to see these players in the U-23 side now – we should promote these young players. The madalas are not going to be around for the next two or three World Cups … if you include these young players now, that will definitely help us. We are not saying we won’t qualify with the madalas, but include the younger players as understudies.” Khan highlights European-based Luther Singh – who shone for the South African U-20 side at last year’s Cosafa championships – as another young star for the future, and is confident such young talent will blossom for Bafana Bafana in future if given a chance. “I think our players will come through; you have Luther Singh who has come through – he didn’t play in the Under-17s but played for the first time with the U-20s, and he’s definitely a candidate that needs to be looked at,” he says. “Nineteen is not too young – it’s better to have a Luther Singh in the Under-20s as we move forward to the World Cup, and bring them into the team if we qualify. “I’m not saying the likes of Tau, Mahlambi and Singh should be starting, but they should be understudies to players that are making their mark, and when those players get close to 30, 31, we then have young players who will be the right age – Singh and Mahlambi will both be 21 in 2018, and that’s what you want.”
“IF WE LEAVE OUT THE LIKES OF PERCY TAU AND PHAKAMANI MAHLAMBI, WE’LL BE DOING OURSELVES AN INJUSTICE.”