You have a chance. . . this is the message new Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has been preaching to South African players where they are in the world.
Two of South Africa’s major sports are managed by two new coaches – Heyneke Meyer for rugby’s Springboks and Gordon Igesund for soccer’s Bafana Bafana. But being new in their jobs, and the fact that both got the hot seat after being overlooked in the past, about sums all that is common between the two coaches.
It is incredible that while Igesund is generally seen to be Bafana Bafana’s saviour by the football fraternity, after years of underperforming by the team, Meyer carries himself as Sprinboks’ messiah. He was however brought down to earth with a thud in his first championship in charge – the recently ended Castle Rugby Championship.
Arrogance in team selection proved to be Meyer’s Achilles heel. The resounding victory over a disjointed Australia at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld was about the only highlight in the series for SA, whose game was blighted by poor spot kicking.
Granted, the Boks outplayed the All Blacks in New Zealand midway the competition. But the record books will show that SA lost, thanks to erratic kicking by an out of form Morne Steyn. Meyer had seen enough of Steyn’s poor form in the earlier matches but chose blind faith to logic to select Steyn again at No.10 in Dunedin on September 15.
Though it was clear to the local game’s followers that the onform and regular match-winner from the flyhalf position was Elton Jantjies of the Lions, Meyer contrived to pick Johan Goosen. Not a bad a choice given the Cheetahs youngster’s potential. Timing was all that was wrong about this move by Meyer. Goosen at the time had missed most of Currie Cup action through injury. At the time of his selection Goosen had been match-fit for a few days.
Needless to say he was overwhelmed in Dunedin, coming in with 25 minutes to go. The unspoken message for the 20 year old was that he had to repair the damage Morne Steyn had already done earlier. He missed with his first attempt at goal, but scored with a 45-minute kick later. Goosen was clearly never to feature again as the All Black turned on their trademark late surge.
You would think Meyer would recognize his error, but hell no. He defended his howler with one of the flimsiest excuses by a coach in international sport in recent times. His post-match comment, once again, exposed blind faith:
“I’ve always rated Johan Goosen. I watched him play as a youngster and it is a pity he got injured (before the Castle series) because he was always part of my plans.”
Meyer also added “but I don’t want to throw him to the wolves. . . he is a guy with a lot of character and mental toughness”.
That mental strength fell into pieces when he started against the Aussies a week later; it was clear Goosen had been thrown into the lions, despite earlier assurance by Meyer. Though Jantjies, who was selected after Steyn was finally dropped, was in the squad, his long-awaited Bok debut came in the dying minutes of the game and had no opportunity to show his worth.
Goosen started again at Loftus in the last match, against NZ, and his run was over in just 34 minutes when Jantjies was introduced. As was the case in Dunedin, this replacement also served to desperately try to fix the problem everybody knew of – except for Meyer of course.
By contrast, Gordon’s message on arrival in the Bafana camp was that no one was guaranteed a place in the national team. And that hard-working players with high technical standards, work rate and right attitude would be considered.
In his first two games in charge, Igesund recalled keeper Moneeb Josephs from “retirement”. The move was inspired as first choice keeper Itumeleng Khune returned brilliant stats in the game against Brazil, which SA lost 1-0, but on the back of a competitive and brave showing.
Before this, Khune and some prima donnas during Pitso Mosimane’s tenure were almost guaranteed places in the national team, whether they worked hard or not. General ill-discipline ran through the team, with no real action being taken to remedy the situation. Even worse, good players were forced to seek employment with the big clubs in order to get the nod in the national set-up.
In his first two matches Igesund, including a 2-0 victory over Mozambique, Igesund showed he was not going to tolerate arrogance, and that he was not going to protect any player against the form book. For the match against Poland in Warsaw tomorrow there are players such as defender Thabo Nthete. In the recent past the Bloemfontein Celtic skipper would not have anticipated such gracious recognition of his skills as a defender and as a natural born leader of men on the field.
While there’s gloom overriding the rugby fraternity over the Boks showing in the Castle series, there is excitement all round about how Igesund approaches his work in Bafana. Some people are questioning why certain players are not in the squad, more so Teko Modise and Andile Jali.
Personally I feel the squad is better off without the last two. If I had to pick a player to beef up this squad, I would go for Black Leopards captain and attack-minded midfielder Mongezi Bobe. But again, the coach knows better.
Good luck Gordon and Bafana in Poland.
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