‘Changes hurt Bafana in 2010’
CHOPPING AND CHANGING COACHES POST-2010 STUNTED PROGRESS
Since Parreira left 10 years ago, SA have had five permanent head coaches.
Siphiwe Tshabalala believes the continuous chopping and changing of coaches since the 2010 Fifa World Cup has contributed to a lack of progress for Bafana Bafana in the last decade.
Thursday marked 10 years since Tshabalala scored a wonderful goal to put Bafana Bafana 1-0 up against Mexico in the opening match of the Fifa World Cup at Soccer City. Bafana, however, ended up drawing that match 1-1, and despite beating France in their last game of the tournament, were the first host nation to be knocked out in the group stages.
Since then, South Africa have failed to qualify for the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil and the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, with a couple of runs to the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals (in 2013 and 2019) the best they have to show for their efforts.
The changing of coaches has been a constant theme with Bafana since their re-introduction into international football in 1994. Since Carlos Alberto Parreira left after the 2010 World Cup, they have had five permanent head coaches (Steve Komphela was also appointed caretaker coach for two matches in 2012).
“I think we tried after 2010, there was an improvement, obviously when Parreira left he gave coach Pitso (Mosimane) an opportunity,” said Tshabalala, in an interview with the South African Football Journalists Association.
Mosimane had been Parreira’s assistant at the World Cup finals but was sacked in 2012 after a poor start to the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign.
“There was a continuation of the work that had been done before the (2010) World Cup, but unfortunately he (Mosimane) was relieved of his duties. Since then we have been inconsistent.
“When an old coach leaves, a new one comes in and brings his own philosophy, some players respond and some don’t (to the new coach) …there is a period we look good, where everything is going well, and then we drop. Recently we had a great Afcon (2019), beating Egypt in Egypt, which is a difficult thing to do, but we did it and showed progress, and everything was ok. Then Stuart (Baxter) had to leave, and now coach Molefi (Ntseki) is there. I think the only thing that can work is to give a coach time and support and space to work on his team.”
Tshabalala also pointed to a lack of South Africans playing in top overseas leagues as a hindrance to the development of South African football. Tshabalala himself saw moves to Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace fall through after the 2010 Fifa World Cup, though he did end up getting a move to Erzurumspor in Turkey late in his playing career.
“Development in South Africa is not strong,” he added.
“We need to make sure we invest in youngsters and development structures, where we can get the next Percy Tau or Itumeleng Khune.
“Like Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and Senegal, we need more players to play abroad in big leagues and come back and help out the national team cause,” said Tshabalala.