2012 - the beginning of Year Zero for SA football

South African football must approach the coming year 2012 as YEAR ZERO. After a year when all that South African football had achieved since readmission in 1992 was kicked into oblivion, the game and all its stakeholders  –  from the fans to administrators, and from the players to government –  must approach 2012 as the year of laying a new foundation.

The debate is on whether the old foundation was not solid enough or it ever existed. The year 1992 was our original YEAR ZERO as we were entering the global stage after exclusion through the apartheid regime. The excitement was overwhelming that we ran with the ball from the word go, hoping to catch up quickly on lost time. The initial success, of tying a friendly series with Cameroon, distracted us from doing the right things from very early on.

Despite subsequent struggles in the qualifying tournaments for 1994 World Cup qualifiers and 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa remained cocky, hoping that money and raw talent of our players would carry us through. After Kenya withdrew its right to host the 1996 event, SA was handed over the honour and rescued from possible humiliation in the qualifiers.

Hosting and winning the Afcon at first attempt was surreal but that’s where the seeds of neglect for development were planted. After this feat we acted as we wanted to go very far with the class of 96, neglecting the fact that many were hovering their 30s.

Without a clear strategy for development, raw talent continued to emerge from all corners of the country, thanks to the unrewarded work of development coaches who were motivated by the passion for the game. That explains why we managed to put together a competitive side which qualified and held their own in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

As a testament for the lack of strategy and vision for the future of the senior national team, the Shakes Mashaba-coached under-23 squad was disbanded after Sydney, when logic called for the promotion of the squad, including their coach. That’s what the likes of Brazil did with their squads after the 2000 Olympics. It is interesting to note that SA beat Brazil in Sydney, but Ronaldinho and mates progressed to shine for their senior national team.

Earlier that year the class of 96 had claimed bronze (third place) in the Afcon, after finished second in 1998. In 2002 we won our group but dropped out in the quarterfinals, after losing 2-0 to host Mali.

Two years later, in Tunsia, we lost in the first round after arriving at the tournament having had head coach Shakes Mashaba fired two weeks earlier. Mashaba was fired for his attempt to shake off some of the big name players who had been frustrating his efforts to build a solid a solid unit. 

Even though SA’s decline was clear and rapid, the authorities did not respond accordingly but sought to buy success by importing international coaches with no known success at this level. So off we went to Egypt in 2006, where we failed to score even a single goal. It was the height of the systematic decline which had gone for years without meaningful intervention.

In 2008, even the picturesque Ghana could not lift Bafana Bafana out of the Afcon doldrums. Despite scoring a goal in each of their first round matches, Bafana still finished bottom of their group. Failure to quaslify for 2010 Angola was the coup de grace, more so that the same year we were hosting the World Cup.

The question was if we cannot be counted among the best in Africa, what qualifies to be in the World Cup. Needless to say, Bafana went on to claim one of the most unwanted records in world football when they became the first host nation to bow out in the first round.

Apart from the lack of a national programme of coordinated development structures, one other crucial factor South Africa neglected was Africa. From club level to Bafana Bafana, SA neglected the fact that its success needed to be measured against the continent. Losing willy nilly in CAF club competition did not bother the country, from the clubs, the players, the fans including the media. One club, Kaizer Chiefs, even boycotted competing in CAF contests, and yet they harbor the ambition of being the best club in Africa.

The success for SA football shall remain through Africa – there is no short cut. Period. Money will not change that as long as there is no strategy to develop and nature world class talent; just like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Senegal – just to mention a few – do. Closer to home hugely under-resourced Botswana have showed how, as they prepare for 2012 Afcon finals while we begin preparation for 2013, which we are going to host. The question is will Safa’s technical team approach Ghana or Botswana for partnership (read, help)?

Safa has organized three friendlies in January, notably against African opposition. It is a good start. There are a few new faces in the 30-man squad announced for this campaign, as well as several fringe players who have been in and out of the squad.

The friendlies against – Equatorial Guinea (January 5, Malabo), Zambia (January 11, Tshwane) and

Ghana (January 15, Rustenburg) – should be viewed, in attitude and all, as the beginning of YEAR ZERO for SA football.

Personally what I wish to see from the players is the fighting spirit, the winning attitude, technical discipline and awareness, and a high work rate.

The bad and the lot more good of Benni

There is good and bad in Benni McCarthy’s altercation with Bidvest Wits’ players and staff after the Telkom Knockout final at Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium last Saturday.

Firstly, it was bad for him to remonstrate with his former Bafana Bafana teammate and now Wits assistant coach Eric Tinkler. Benni had raised Tinkler’s ire when he “trampled” on defender Sipho Mngomezulu.

When he left the pitch when he was substituted with Pirates already 3-1, McCarthy made a disparaging gesture towards the Wits bench, apparently to taunt his ex-Bafana mate. Then at final whistle a victorious Benni boisterously threw expletives at Tinkler, and had to be restrained by Pirates’ staff.

Even doubly bad was McCarthy’s rejection of the mandatory post-match handshake attempt by Wits striker Ryan Chapman. He alleged lashed out at Chapman, forgetting that the aspiring young striker is a homeboy from Cape Town, who grew up idolizing him at the height of his international career.

He was on Chapmans’ case the whole week ahead of the final match. Personally I thought it was good brinkmanship helping the hype around the big match.

However for both incidents, Benni gets zero for sportsmanship. He set a bad example for children watching at the stadium and more at home in front of their TVs. He’s too smart to go down this way so I hope he will have a different take on the matter when the dust settles down, and do the right thing.

The most magnanimous thing I hope to see him do is for him to visit Chapman and apologise – and, of course, shake his hand.  

McCarthy’s outrage also has some positives, if you look closely enough.  Well, the first good I have already candidly referred to above, about him helping to sell the game. PSL players are generally mutes who contribute nothing towards selling matches as they virtually have nothing to say. Even when they do open their mouths, what comes out is a forgettable murmur that would probably send fans and opposition to sleep than inject an adrenalin rush ahead of coming hostilities.

So, in my book, McCarthy did well in the run up of the Telkom Knockout to sell the game with his bombastic and cocky approach. He said Wits would pay for the 3-1 drubbing they gave the Buccaneers a little over two weeks earlier. He also used some psychological mumbo-jumbo to numb Chapman, who in the run up to the final, was the hottest striker in the country.

So the public wanted to see this, how “loudmouth” Benni himself would shape up in the final match. The stadium was sold out and taverns and other watching venues were overflowing, not only with Pirates supporters and Wits sympathizers, but with soccer fans from all persuasions of the beautiful game. You did it Benni.

Another good is that Benni is bringing a new mentality into the Bucs camp, a fighting spirit. Pirates won the treble last season without McCarthy, which means they knew how to win. They also fought back bravely several occasions to avoid defeats – mostly forcing late-minute draws. Benni McCarthy is saying this game is not for sissies – the fight to win is not over even after the final whistle. This is the attitude Pirates players are going to need if they wish to keep the momentum going for a long time. And more than that, they are going to need this mentality when their campaign in the CAF Champions League begin later in February.

Many SA teams have complained of tough conditions when out playing on the continent. Of course Africa is tough, and we know that full well because its our continent and we grew up here. The lack of fighting back against hostility on their travels is what has kept SA teams far from the honours table in African football for a long time.

So, like him or loathe him, Benni is here to kick butt and that’s what the PSL and Orlando Pirates need to step up.

Good luck Baby Bafana

This was a forgettable year for South African football as far as the senior national team Bafana Bafana are concerned.

Bafana were lucky to get an easy qualifying group for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Africa, the oil-rich hosts on the west coast of central Africa. As it is, the country will watch the best of African football battle out for honours without SA's involvement, for the second edition in a row.

It does not offer any consolation to say former champions and powerhouses Cameroon and Nigeria have also failed to qualify. Their problems have nothing to do with us, when our house is falling apart despite all the available resources to fix it.

Failure to stamp their authority against lightweights such as Niger and Sierra Leone was appalling and as a result we were rightfully excluded from the continental showpiece in January. Even more horrifying, Bafana played their fourth match against Sierra Leone this year, and are still to score a goal against the tiny republic still trying to shake off the ravages of an ugly civil war.

The final insult, needless to say, was losing the last match of the horror year to Zimbabwe. Eighty per cent of the Zim squad was made of South African-based players so there is no excuse. I am not suggesting Zimbabwe are useless (they won by the way). I am only saying if we can't beat them who can we beat?

The stinker was when Fifa confirmed our receding fortunes by pushing us out of its top 50 in the rankings. Zambia qualified for Afcon 2012 but fired the coach nevertheless because he was too weak to match Zambia's ambition. Now that's a clear case of strong leadership.

By the way, Nigeria and Cameroon also fired their coaches for their failures and what about us? It's business as usual for Pitso Mosimane, despite failing on his mandate to qualify South Africa for 2012. It does not matter how qualified or good natured the man is, but in this business outcomes determine the future.

As a consolation we can only hope for the best for the under-23 team in their campaign to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The qualifying tournament kicks of in Morocco tomorrow but Shakes Mashaba and the boys will take to the field on Sunday, against an impressive Ivory Coast.
 
Isn't it amazing that SA football pledges to clean up and rise again, and yet Mashaba was given so much hassle by local clubs just to get the players the country needs to succeed in Morocco?

Anyway power to Baby Bafana. Ride those young Elephants on Sunday and win. . . you are the future.
 

New on the sport front

I welcome you all to this new blog through which I will be giving opinion on matters of sport, mainly football, Olympic sports and roadrunning. I will try my best to produce new material on regular basis, despite my tight work and family schedules.
In the meantime, watch this space.