Nothing
was omitted from the book of tactics, play systems and strategies. They say,
the “main reasons” of Bafana “unexpected” and complete failure are: “weak
central defence”, “giving the ball away”, “poor in transition” (!?), “allowing
Brazil to play between our lines”(!!??), “no communication”, “no tactical
alertness”, “poor reading of the game”, “no wing play”, “lack of creativity”,
“wrong line up and substitutions” and more. Incredibly that again, all the
negative effects of Bafana’s performance were closely identified and criticised
but no one ever mentioned what are the real causes of those dreadful
deficiencies.
It
confirms, once again, the general inability to understand key requirements of
high performance in football. A simple analytical look at what makes Brazil and
other football nations enjoy success in the game would disclose fundamental
facts. Today’s Brazil can serve as a perfect example of proper policy to
re-build international success in football. They know again what strengths
brought them glory in the past and made sure that Brazilian football is
revived, accordingly. The Brazilian identity was strongly imposed last night.
The
superior technical skills that give their players tactical freedom and so much
creativity has been reinstalled in their youth development – from the age of
5-6 – as the most prominent part of the nation’s football philosophy. When, not
too long ago, Scolari, Parreira and Zagallo realized that the European
influence was the main reason of Brazilian football’s decline, requested an
immediate ‘return to the roots’ of nation’s winning style.
That
identity is again winning for Brazil. By huge contrast, in South African
football, calls for a national football identity, unreserved recognition of the
natural attributes of local players, dismissal of foreign influences or radical
changes in the way talent is nurtured are illogically disregarded. The
promoters of such ideas are labelled as ‘negative’ or ‘talking too much’.
Football
illiterates still oppose the dismissal of those who propagate foreign
ideologies in SA football. The harm done to local players by those contrasting
foreign coaching and playing mentalities was demonstrated in the last night
game where the display of SA players’ mixed and confusing individual styles -
elements of Dutch, German, English with only few glimpses of African
mentality/skill – largely affected the performance of the team.
How
ironic and irrational is to acknowledge that Brazil’s five World Cup successes
have been achieved with the invaluable influence of African skill and
creativity (without it Brazil’s football would not be different than any other
South American nation) and yet in South Africa the ‘original’ of such natural
features is
Discarded!
That’s where the real reasons of South African football predicament can be
found.
