Downs ‘can rule Africa’
CONTINENT’S DECLINING STANDARD COUNT IN SA SIDES’ FAVOUR Despite all their challenges, Chiefs are also back to make their mark in Caf Champions League.
Ted Dumitru believes that both Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs have a good chance of doing well in this year’s Caf Champions League, partly because the standard of football on most of the rest of the continent is in decline.
“We have done some assessment on the development of African football and the standards are going down. It is obvious that African countries are generally more interested in selling individual players than developing their own football,” said Dumitru, who reached the Champions League final with Sundowns in 2001, and won consecutive Absa Premiership titles with Kaizer Chiefs between 2003 and 2005.
“With the PSL and Safa pushing hard for competitive football in South Africa, I think the balance is going to change and South African teams will do well.”
Dumitru is particularly enthusiastic about high-flying Sundowns, who he believes can go all the way. The Brazilians start their campaign against Zimbabwe’s Chicken Inn in Bulawayo tonight.
“I think they can go to the final, unless there is a drop in interest in the competition. That can happen with South African teams, they are not always happy travelling” said Dumitru.
“But if you talk about competitive value, they have all the chance to go all the way.
“With the investment made by the club – no other club can afford what they can – they now have two or three top players in each position, and they play the best salaries.”
Dumitru is far less enthusiastic about Chiefs, but still thinks they can do well in the Champions League. They play Volcan de Moroni away in the Comores tomorrow.
“Chiefs are going through a crisis, there is no question about it. After Stuart Baxter left, there was no continuity. They are also paying the price for not having valuable youth development products. Even if they have money, it is difficult to find players to satisfy requirements.
“Steve Komphela has his own idea about how the game should be played and I don’t think the players can change to another system, they are going through a difficult time.
“(But) with the exception of North Africa and countries like Tunisia and Morocco, the rest of the continent is not keeping up the pace of improvements. There is a decline, with the best players going to Europe … the PSL doesn’t have high technical standards but because of the density of matches, teams manage to bring players to a high competitive level. Even with their weaknesses, I think Chiefs can manage to put up a competitive performance (in Africa).”