Tovey s take on SA teams
BAFANA Bafana had a disappointing year, but the national men s junior teams and Banyana Banyana have given South Africans reason to believe in the future of local football following one of the most promising years for a long time in the country.
The under-17s, coached by Molefi Ntseki, were without doubt the best performing side, reaching the final of the African under-17 Championship in Niger as they qualified for the World Cup in Chile.
The under-23s ended the year on a high by also qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
But the senior team was disappointing, getting knocked out in the first round at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Equatorial Guinea before bowing out of the Cosafa Cup on home soil without a win or a goal.
Bafana are yet to win a match in the 2017 Afcon qualifiers, but have progressed to the final round of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Banyana Banyana, meanwhile, have shown progress since missing out on World Cup qualification with coach Vera Pauw. They also booked a spot at the Olympics, and have already started preparing for the event.
Safa technical director Neil Tovey analyses the perfomance of all the SA national teams in 2015:
Bafana Bafana Bafana for me had a disappointing year. They did not do well at the Afcon. We have to set standards higher and dominate. Throughout the year, the (2017 Afcon) qualification process has not gone to plan. We have to beat Cameroon home and away in our next two matches.
At worst, we have to draw away and beat them at home. We should get a minimum of four points against them, otherwise we ve got no chance of qualifying. Beating Mauritania is a no brainer. We have to win that match and beat Gambia away from home.
The World Cup qualifiers have given us hope. We did well to score four against Angola. We are in the next round for the draw.
Under-23s There s a lot of hope for us when I look at this. There s a good crop of players in this team, but I think they need to believe in themselves a lot more. Tournament football is about progression, and we did well to qualify for the Olympics. Now we have to prepare well and look into the next year.
Under-20s Their performance at the tournament (African Youth Championship in Senegal) was quite disappointing. They did well to win the tournament in Russia before that, but they had an up and down year. They have not been active for a while now, but activity comes from doing well in tournaments.
Under-17s They had a wonderful year. Qualifying for the World Cup was tremendous for the boys. Giving 17-year-old boys an opportunity to play on the world stage can only benefit them and their careers. But there s a lot to learn. You can t give away three penalties in three matches.
Banyana Banyana Their (Olympic) qualification campaign was very good. They spent time planning and qualified. They are becoming a better team. They did very well.