Five things we hope to avoid in SA soccer this year
LOOKING ahead at the year‚ we have jotted down a few things we desperately do not want to see this year in South African soccer.
Five things we hope to avoid:
1. Another Bafana Bafana coach losing the plot
Something about that job just seems to turn coaches into a seething ball of rabid‚ frothing-at-the-mouth madness.
The examples are plentiful – Gordon Igesund‚ Pitso Mosimane and most recently and glaringly Shakes Mashaba.
They all start well on the field and are a ball of warm‚ fuzzy charm off it.
There is often an eightmonth timeline for this honeymoon period.
A few tough results‚ a hint of criticism‚ even from the fringe‚ charlatan press‚ and they transform into paranoid beings like werewolves from the moonlight‚ sprinting off into the bushveld to hunt rabbits and scratching for fleas with their hind legs.
Safa are due to appoint their new Bafana coach in the next few weeks. Hopefully, the new incumbent will learn one big‚ important‚ exclamation-mark lesson from the track record of his predecessors – don’t speak rubbish.
2. Charlatans coaching PSL teams
It’s been a bad start to the year‚ as already Mark Harrison has been appointed as technical director of lastplaced Baroka FC.
It is not a coaching job but head coach Kgoloko Thobejane might have to start getting nervous‚ as the term technical director is defined in the popular football lexicon as the coach in waiting.
Not that we are casting aspersions on Harrison – we wish him and the promoted club all the best in what will be a tough fight surviving their first season in the top-flight.
The Englishman‚ though‚ does have a decidedly iffy track record in the PSL – coaching Chippa United to relegation‚ being fired in February with Golden Arrows in last place in the year they were relegated in 2014.
PSL clubs’ retreading of flat tyre coaches drags down the strides made by clubs who have made sensible‚ impressive appointments such as Stuart Baxter‚ Gavin Hunt and Pitso Mosimane.
3. Ernst Middendorp returning to SA football
Really‚ with reference to the above point about the charlatan coaching treadmill‚ as much as the combustible German does have some coaching pedigree‚ his track record of never being able to stay at a club for long must surely now have alerted future employers that he is not a safe bet.
After alienating himself with the powers-that-be in SA football by having to leave Maritzburg United in November because of the public statements he consistently made about acting PSL chief executive Mato Madlala‚ Middendorp has secured himself a nice‚ unchallenging job at Bangkok United.
He should enjoy the Baht he’s earning in a not overly competitive league‚ the beaches‚ the bars‚ and the safe haven of Thailand.
The media‚ especially‚ are tired of the coach’s bizarre outbursts every time he picks up his phone for some latest unknown‚ perceived offence.
4. Steve Komphela Jesus references
Please Steve‚ no. We love your parallels equating football tactics to bikinis‚ but the biblical reference you made after Kaizer Chiefs lost 2-1 against Mamelodi Sundowns had TV interviewer Rob Marawa admittedly confused and left the rest of us as in the dark as if there had been an Eskom power cut.
5. Clubs playing C teams in continental competition
Yes‚ Mamelodi Sundowns have comparably endless player and financial resources. Yes‚ it is expensive. Yes‚ there is domestic success to be considered first for some clubs‚ especially in the form of league titles.
But really‚ if clubs from Uganda can send not just their full-strength teams but also journalists to cover them in the early stages of the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup – teams from Congo-Brazzaville can regularly reach the group stages‚ and Zesco United from Zambia can reach the semifinals – then surely Bidvest Wits‚ SuperSport United and Platinum Stars‚ with their far greater budgets‚ can do the same.
Sundowns are African champions and have led the way. The approach needs to change from other clubs too if SA football is to progress.