The Month That Was

Looking back at the month’s most memorable moments.

Let us not kid ourselves: even though world football governing body Fifa has allocated at least nine spots to CAF for the 2026 World Cup, the truth is that Bafana Bafana’s chances of making it are slimmer than a man standing in front of a gorilla holding a banana. Those who think that increasing the number of teams at the Fifa World Cup from 32 to 48 is going to increase Bafana Bafana’s prospects of qualifying must think again. To quote the words of my late friend and widely-respected coach Ted Dumitru: “While the rest of the African continent is moving forward, South African football is accelerating in the opposite direction.” It’s been over ten years since Dumitru uttered those hard-hitting words, yet every year the situation seems to get even worse. Need proof? Over the last eight home Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Bafana Bafana have won just one and drawn seven, with six of those ending 0-0. The last goalless draw came against Libya, a country whose domestic football only resumed last year after it was suspended due to political conflict in the country. The Libyan national team hadn’t played a single competitive fixture in six months, yet instead of a routine home win for Stuart Baxter’s team, the visitors managed to leave Durban with a valuable point. Despite this, the bigwigs at Safa House are still walking with their chests out, patting their own backs about the “success” of junior national teams qualifying for World Cups. As much as it is important for our junior national teams to qualify for youth tournaments, the reality is that only a small number of those players make it to the senior teams. The rest end up in South Africa’s lower leagues or disappear from the face of the earth. From the talented Under-20 team that played at the 2009 World Cup in Egypt, only Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Thulani Hlatshwayo, Andile Jali and Kamohelo Mokotjo are regular starters in the current Bafana Bafana set-up. Thulani Serero has turned his back on the national team, Dino Ndlovu, Darren Keet and Dylan Classen are Bafana part-timers while Kermit Erasmus hasn’t been in the picture for over a year. The rest of the team is nowhere close to receiving a call-up anytime soon. This problem is compounded by the fact that many of our superstars who left to play in Europe early in their careers are now coming back in numbers to sit on the bench of PSL teams, leaving the national team coach with very few options. Yes, Bafana Bafana will get big wins here and there like they did when they shocked Nigeria 2-0, but those few and far between victories are not true measurements of success. The truth is our team is in shambles, and this is something we need to accept before moving forward. Zola Doda The Editor