SA football not good enough

THE EARLY success enjoyed by Bafana Bafana made us believe we are better than most African countries. enough. The truth is that football in the rest of the continent has progressed, while our game at the southern tip of Africa has remained stagnant or has regressed. After the success of Bafana in the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, our football fortunes have taken a dive, much to the dismay of foot- ball-loving South Africans. The team’s dismal performance this week against Cape Verde, an island with a population of 540 000, has proved once again that our football is not on par with the rest of the world. Bafana played Cape Verde twice in the space of five days, losing both home and away matches 2-1, pretty much kill- ing our chances of participating in the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia. Our Premier Soccer League might be the rich- est in Africa, but in terms of its ability to produce world-class players, we’re lagging far behind other countries on the continent. It doesn’t matter which coach we employ, as Bafana will continue with their below- par per- formances until we get to the root of what is really wrong with our football. Without proper development structures at grass- roots level to focus on developing talent, domin- ance of the continent will remain a pipe-dream. We also need to start sending more players to the big leagues in Europe, to better acquaint them with the competitive nature of world football. After the retirement of striker and Bafana’s all- time leading goalscorer, Benni McCarthy, South Africa has not produced a player who can compete with the best in the world. Our players only play in some of Europe’s less significant leagues. If we fail to get this right, we will be forced to come to terms with the sad reality that our football is just not good