There
is no need to cry over spoiled milk. The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)
catastrophe is now water under the bridge. We need to focus at the future as we
can't change the past but we can change the future.
Some recommended way
forward to Bafana Bafana
1. Gordon Igesund should remain as a
national head coach but his technical team needs to be reinforced with a decent
coach bringing modern tactical and technical soccer acumen. Serame Letsoaka is
an imposed assistant coach to Gordon Igesund by SAFA without any tactical
acumen. He is the mole of SAFA in the technical team. He is doing ball boy role
without adding any tactical inputs in the team.
I
haven’t seen Serame Letsoaka issuing tactical directives to players on the
bench and I doubt if many South Africans know that we have an Assistant Coach by
the name of Serame Letsoaka in the Bafana Technical team. SAFA should appoint part time Assistant coach
of Steve Komphela calibre to add more tactical value in the team as the void
left by the late Thomas Madigage (RIP) is not yet filled
2. SAFA should start investing more money
towards the youth development structures. West Africans players are blessed to
be developed in Europe. Many West Africans players are shipped at early age to
be exposed to the European soccer development. Quinton Fortune and Delron
Buckely are some of the Mzansi products shipped at early age to be exposed to
the European soccer development and they had positive impacts in the Bafana
team.
It was dishearten to see Bafana Bafana playing
without any teen player. Jomo Sono is the only believer of young talent in
South Africa. Jomo played Quinton Fortune, Aaron Mokoena and even Benni
McCarthy in his Bafana team as teenagers but now a player at the age of 25 is
still considered a youngster in only in South Africa.
3. Gordon should work towards strengthening
his defence in the Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifying games. Our central defence
combination was tested but crumbled in the tournament. Morgan Gould or Tower
Mathoho is the perfect replacement to fill the void already created by Bongani
Khumalo. Bongani Khumalo is a promising defender but his work-rate and
confidence are too low to control the heart of Bafana Defence.
4. Bafana Bafana needs another Captain.
Despite his nasal spewing English, Bongani Khumalo doesn’t have leadership
abilities. He lacks organisational skills. He hardly issued instructions to the
boys. Our defence always lost shape when under siege but he never re-organised
the shape of his defence. He lacks the leadership ability of Neil Tovey, Steve
Komphela and Luca Radebe who were vocal during their playing days.
5. Our toothless striking force needs a
serious attention. The country doesn’t have quality strikers. The Bafana
leading goal-scorer in the AFCON 2013 was a defender (Siyabonga Sangweni). We
must start poaching strikers from other African countries. France did it and won
1998 World Cup with poached players from Africa and the Caribbean’s. We should
have poached the “hot like fire” Emanuel Emeneke from Nigeria. He came here
without any international cap but was never taken seriously by South African
teams but now he is the best striker in Africa.
6. The team also need a creative player
with visionary and defence unlocking pass to complement the hard work of Dean
Furman. It is a pity that Steven Pienaar has turned his back on the national
team. Schillo is a good creative player but his performance in the Bafana
jersey left a lot to be desire.
Conclusion
The
AFCON 2013 Catastrophic is not a train smash. We can still redeem our pride by
qualifying to the Brazil 2014 World Cup if Gordon Igesund is given a necessary
support by fans and SAFA. However, Igesund should get rid of his subjective
team selection. Players should be selected based on merits than reputation.
Current players’ performance and fitness should be on top of his selection
criteria. We’ve come too far to turn back now Bafana Bafana.
I
still believe in Bafana Bafana!
By Owen Mundalamo
