The biggest enemy for South
African clubs in African club competitions has, over the years, been the
mindset of the players. South African players have a long-standing problem of
denying themselves the opportunity of self-empowerment.
The players tend to depend
on their coaches to prepare them mentally about the conditions and any other
info about their opponents and their countries.
For time immemorial, going
to war with no information about your foe has always been a suicidal mission.
At least, the insanely brave and super strong can undertake such expeditions
and expect to conquer at a high risk.
SA players operating in the
local Premiership are however not made like that. Ahead of international
matches, they need thorough prep but for that to reach optimum levels, each
player must take the trouble to find information about the opponents and their
country. The players must share notes about what they found and discuss options
about how to deal with they have discovered.
The coaches will continue to
plan the strategy based on what they have observed about the playing style and
habits - special or uncanny - of the opponents. However, it is up to the
players to strengthen their mental resolve to have found out about these things
even before the coaches meet them for strategy discussion.
A real professional need not
wait on the coach to tell him that Club A are from the City of X and that they
have been consistently using a certain core starting XI for the past three
months, and that their captain is notorious for discreet body punches in
close-up encounters.
Granted, back in the day it
was hard to get all of this valuable information about other clubs on the
continent. But today there's no excuse; today all this info is available by
punching the keys of your smartphone or laptop. If a professional player today
claims he did not know about the club and country they travelled to for an
official fixture, then that players is lazy and not serious about their career.
Tonight Orlando Pirates meet
RS Berkane of Morocco in the CAF Confederation Cup final in Uyo city in
Nigeria. Ok, it will be pointless in this fixture for Pirates players to worry
themselves about the conditions in Morocco, more so in Berkane, since the match
is at a neutral venue.
However, will it help an
individual Pirates player to know that the "RS" in the name of the
opposition stands for Renaissance Sportive? Of course it will; knowledge is
power!
Renaissance means
"rebirth" in French, and the meaning can be extended to revival and
renewal. And what made it special for Berkane? The club was founded in 1938,
and in 1966 another club, Chabab Riadhi de Berkane, was founded. So to avoid
attrition and improve football fortunes in the small regional city of
Berkane, the two clubs, then both semi-professional, merged to form Renaissance
Sportive du Berkane (RSB) in 1971. Six years later, RSB was promoted to Morocco's top league.
So the final is not in the
city of The Oranges, so-called because Berkane is big on the production of
clementines, the citrus hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange and a
common sweet orange.
It should by now have helped
Pirates players to know about the technical strengths and weaknesses of Berkane
and mental make-up of its players. All this data and videos are available
online.
Hopefully, Orlando Pirates
players have done their homework properly to prepare for the final tonight.
That includes the technical aspects of the venue, Godswill Akpabio
International Stadium. Even better, the venue is the home ground of Akwa
United, the team defender Olisa Ndah played for before joining Pirates last
year.
My point, in conclusion, is
that South African teams and their players no longer have reasons to be
clueless about their opponents in CAF club competitions. They can no longer
justify their downcast mood when they travel to any part of Africa.
Information is freely
available. Read, be focused and approach matches with a sense of leadership and
confidence.
Bring home that cup Buccaneers!
