BAFANA BAFANA TO GET COACH NUMBER 24, ALL IN 22 YEARS Time to invest in our young players
WE WILL have a new Bafana Bafana coach from this Saturday; coach number 17 since readmission in 1992, but only if you exclude the seven caretaker coaches we have had since 1998 until 2012!
So come Saturday afternoon, we will have coach number 25 in 22 years.
He is likely to get a minimum four-year contract, effective from August 2014 until perhaps August 2018, with two clear mandates – Afcon 2017 and FIFA World Cup 2018.
SAFA says they have learned, and we can only hope that they’re speaking the truth, that quick fixes don’t work which is why the new coach won’t be expected to achieve miracles at Afcon 2015, and rightfully so I think, bearing in mind the first qualifier is in just over a month’s time.
That would not only have set the tone for failure and kicked off the new coach’s tenure on a sour and disappointing note, but also have continued the trend of failing to improve as a result of these ridiculous mandates.
Do we really want to see another national coach selecting old players, past their prime, being selected just for instant results?
Without question, we have a long way to go in terms of catching up with teams on the continent and globally.
This World Cup in Brazil was a blatant slap in the face as to how far behind we really are, but there has to come a point in time when we say enough is enough, out with the old way of thinking, let’s start off afresh.
And, simply put, that means investing in development and our youth – we need to erase from our minds that players in the senior national team are to be of a certain age, most often than not over 26 years old.
James Rodriguez was outstanding for Columbia and finished the World Cup as the Golden Boot Winner – to SAFA bosses and decision makers out there, Rodriguez is just 23 years old and was one of the most entertaining and outstanding players at this past World Cup.
Age shouldn’t matter if you have the talent and that is a lesson that desperately needs to be learned here in South Africa.
As Louis van Gaal (LvG) pointed out in his press conference last Friday, “experience” and “age” have very different definitions in football terms referring to his experience with Clarence Seedorf, whom he gave his debut at age 16.
LvG says that just because you have experience doesn’t necessarily mean you are better qualified to serve the team than a younger or less experienced player – form wins first prize, that being team selection. And, it’s hard to argue with that. ON THE back of one of the best World Cups we’ve ever watched, the summer transfer window has been rather exciting this year, getting fans salivating in anticipation of the start of the new season.
The big clubs in England have been quite busy setting the tone for yet another cracking season.
United’s buys have been impressive thus far but there are still a few players who need to be offloaded and a few more players to sign on.
Jose Mourinho looks like a manager on a mission with his summer acquisitions and I doubt he’s done just yet.
Liverpool have some work to do this summer not just in the transfer market but also rebuilding after the departure of Le Cannibal.
I can’t help but think that they feel hard done by Suarez’s decision to sign for Barcelona.
I mean, here’s a club that supported a clearly flawed character, stood by him through incidents of biting opposition players and racism allegations and sought help for him which on the surface appeared to have worked, seeing as there weren’t any issues in the league last season, only to find that one spontaneous act of utter stupidity had rendered both their futures together almost impossible.
Although they invested in his rehabilitation I’m sure deep down they knew that he was always a ticking time bomb, albeit one they had built their team around.
Now Brendan Rodgers has some work to do but I suspect Liverpool will in the long term be better off without the antics and distractions that Suarez inevitably brought.