Khumalo’s selection comes under serious criticism
AS SOUTH Africans debated this week what may have gone wrong with Pitso Mosimane’s Bafana Bafana regime, the name of Bongani Khumalo kept creeping up.
The central defender was used by some as an example of Mosimane’s alleged favouritism, with critics claiming he hardly deserved selection, let alone a starting place in the national side given that he hardly plays for Tottenham Hotspur, his English Premiership club.
When Siyabonga Sangweni was injured in the lead-up to Bafana’s opening World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia last week, Mosimane turned to Khumalo to fill the void at centreback, and the sight of the defender struggling to stop Ethiopia’s Ahmed Said from scoring was pinpointed as another blunder by the now sacked Bafana coach.
Speaking yesterday ahead of Saturday’s second qualifier against Botswana, Khumalo said he understood the argument of his critics, but warned he was playing in “the best league in the world” and thus could not be overlooked.
“The accusation that perhaps I shouldn’t be here is fair. But you need to look at other factors. I play in England and generally people don’t know what is happening on that side. The English Premiership is the stage where you play the highest level of football, probably the best league in the world.
“I’m playing for a top-four team and this was my first full season there. And the team has so many experienced players. So it was bound to be challenging but I told myself I would stick it out and face the challenge (of not getting regular game time). I’m thankful that I’ve been called up.”
Critics have argued that when Sangweni, the Orlando Pirates defender, suffered an injury which forced him to withdraw from camp, Mosimane should have turned to two-time capped Mulomuwandau Mathoho, of Bloemfontein Celtic, instead of the experienced Khumalo, who played all matches at the 2010 World Cup and has 26 caps.
It was unclear whether Mosimane’s interim replacement, Steve Komphela, would opt for Mathoho as cynics have suggested, in which case this would seem a populist decision.
There hasn’t been a clear indication as to how Komphela will approach Saturday’s game, and even Khumalo himself could not tell yesterday if he would start.
“It’s too early to tell who’s going to be in the starting XI, but from what I’ve seen I can’t say there has been a major shift in terms of approach. We are still the same players and I re- ally didn’t expect that there would be a sudden overhaul now that we are under a different coach. Football doesn’t change overnight. There’s a continuation and let’s see how things will pan out.”
Khumalo conceded Bafana didn’t play to their best in that match, and were not helped by Ethiopia’s tactics.
“At this level it’s proving harder and harder to win games. We’ve seen in massive games in the Uefa Champions League teams going all-out to “park a bus” and then winning. Ethiopia used the same tactics but at least we got a point, which does count. We might look like we are not doing anything on the field but at times you must give credit to the opposition.”
Bafana vice-captain Siphiwe Tshabalala says the team underestimated Ethiopia.
“We failed as a team,” Tshabalala said. “It would be unfair to make excuses because we went through a two-week preparation for that game. We analysed them, watched videos and were all eager to perform. But on matchday, the opposite happened.
We underestimated the opponents and we actually got the shock of our lives to see how dedicated they were. We have to apologise to the nation and promise that such a poor performance will not happen again.”