Blessing in disguise
Although it was both painful and frustrating for our senior men’s national team to fail to qualify for the upcoming Qatar FIFA World Cup, it could’ve be a blessing in disguise. I uttered the same words in the year 2000 when SA lost a bid be the be the first African country to host the World Cup. After SA lost the 2006 World Cup bid, I said it was a blessing in disguise because we’d be better prepared for 2010.
And in 2010 we won the bid and our infrastructure and stadiums were world class. After former Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki failed to qualify SA for the Africa Cup of Nations, he was sacked and was replaced by Belgian mentor, Hugo Broos.
Bafana Bafana were unlucky to have lost both the Cameroon Afcon and Qatar World Cup opportunities due to controversial referees’ decisions. I would say those lost opportunities could be a blessing in disguise.
Our head coach is still new and our players are young, talented but inexperienced. In the next instalments of both World Cup and Afcon, they will be more mature and better experienced.
All coaches preceding Broos had failed to blend youngsters in in preparation for both Afcon and Qatar World Cup. Broos had proved with Cameroon that he can groom youngsters into superstars.
If given undivided support by both the SAFA hierarchy and individual clubs, Broos can turn SA into world beaters.