Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
South Africa playing football without a soul
THERE is a lot of talk about how we as South Africa can turn around our fortunes at international level and become a force that most people believe we should be.
It is very clear that we are not among the best nations in the world. For us to gain such status, we will have to be serious about everything we do.
The one thing that we cannot negotiate is that players who excel at international level are developed over a long period of time within a proper, relevant and structured system of youth development.
Without this type of a culture, at any time with the talent we have, South Africa may produce a good talent by chance but such cannot be sustainable.
We once had a Sports School of Excellence which, using the local content and methodology, developed players who went on to be household names in the world, playing for big clubs in big leagues.
Besides the late Ted Dumitru – whose origin was not South African, although he proved to be more African than most of us – everyone else in that project was South African.
That was as much a local product as the 1996 team that won the only continental football silverware for any men’s national team in this country. And thanks to those heroes for making SA stand with other nations in that trophy.
The difference is only that the School of Excellence had a plan while the 1996 team did not. That is why the process, methodology and content of the school has been repeated, albeit in isolated environments, while the 1996 success has not.
The main attribute of that team was the natural environment that almost all of its members were exposed to while developing as young players. They were “developed” naturally.
They had identity that came through the natural games that they played in their youth. They were not coached as they grew up but the game coached them and coached them very well.
As Arsene Wenger put it: “At youth level, it is better to have no coaching than wrong coaching.”
As this group of players was exiting the game, so did the decline of both the “flair in players of our teams” and the success at international level. The gradual decline was the natural death of the generation of “self-developed” players.
As declared above, no/less coaching is better than wrong coaching.
On the disregard for technical expertise, this is seen in our everyday life of our clubs. We are not seeing enough of our local clubs at any level exhibiting any particular style. The clubs are not standing for specific identity. They just play.
Clubs just employ and contract coaches.
It is doubtful, with all respect, if any due diligence is done prior to the appointment of coaches (with specific attention to the compatibility of the coach and the club) which could be the reason of such turnover of the coaches in our country.
In proper and well established football environments, there are very successful coaches (just like players) but who may not be appointed, because their philosophy is not in sync with the club’s direction.
They would not change the club tradition to accommodate an individual.
Hence, for most of them, their coaches stay long not because they win all the time, let alone everything, but because they fulfil the requirements of the club and its mission.
Lack of identity
It is strange if not unusual, that we only have two clubs, Cape Town City and Stellenbosch, that today (November) have the same coaches in the same position/capacity/title that they had 12 months ago.
This lack of identity and therefore stability, is penetrating through to our national teams.
Unless and until we identify our strengths, we will continue with this trial and error, with more errors than anything else.
We are continuously bombarded by this notion that we need strikers. We do not have strikers.
We have a lot of players who can score goals.
Others even fall into the temptation of picking the body size of certain players, like the late Philemon ‘Chippa’ Masinga, as if that was the rule.
Even then, such players were an exception.
Before and after his generation, there were many more who were prolific yet did not present the physical attributes like him.
Samora Khulu, Marks Maponyane, Owen Nzimande, Daniel Mudau, Mark Williams, Brandon Augustine, Lesley Manyathela, Ishmael Maluleka, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Benedict McCarthy, Sibusiso Zuma and Richard Henyekane are some of the examples of players who were more of that rule.
As a way of an example, Japan went on a mission in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
They decided that they wanted to make a mark in football.
After sending a lot of their coaches around the world, the Japanese realised that none of the people they wanted to copy from, were like them.
They decided to use the information they had to develop their own game model, a philosophy that would suit their attributes.
They were not as tall and big as the Germans, nor the Dutch but also not as skilful as the Brazilians, to mention some of the countries they intended to learn from.
Today we all know how they play. Their game is based on their strength. Do they have big-bodied players? Do they have tall players?
Do they have sprinters? Whatever the answer(s), they play to their strength.
All their teams from club to national level, and in all competitive age groups, exhibit the same traits.
Their men’s team has qualified for every Fifa World Cup since 1998 and more than once they have gone past the first round.
Their women’s team were world champions in 2011.
This is a nation that went to their first men’s World Cup, like us, in 1998. In October 1996, we had our best Fifa men’s ranking of 19th and the Japanese were 20th. In November 2022 – 26 years later – they are 24th and we are 67th.
There’s a difference between playing to win as opposed to developing your game to win consistently in the future.
For clubs to keep their coaches, they should know what they want, so that they will also know who they want.
To want a coach to win you games is very short-term. Many coaches can and have won many games. Very few, all over the world, have won championships.
It is strange that teams want to win yet one team in our Premiership has won the league in the last five seasons.
Does this mean all the other coaches are bad? Methinks not.
South Africa beat France in 2010, in the World Cup last group game. South Africa also beat Spain in 2013, in a friendly match.
These nations are both World Champions. They have played in all the World Cups since 2010 and will be in Qatar this month.
South Africa have not played in any World Cup since 2010 and will not be in Qatar.
While we beat them, they kept developing and we did not.
To win a game is an event, but to develop a team that can win consistently is a process.
Until we invest in the process, we may win a game but we will be losing while winning.
Had all our clubs been able to have the people that possess the technical expertise to direct the technical direction of the club, and to maintain the “culture/philosophy” of their club, even if the coaches would change, we would still know the product that each club “sells”. Such people would also see and act in advance to avoid the ageing of the squad.
A succession plan would be in place and so will be the scouting process.