Cape Town - Here we go again… After a brief lull, the abject performance of the SA national football side is again in the spotlight. Not that it wasn’t expected - because, at a national level, football still has no direction.
There’s always talk of Vision 2022, but, after a much-hyped initial phase, there’s little evidence that Bafana Bafana are playing a role in this project. It’s still only about short-sighted, short-term gains.
On Saturday night, in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier, Bafana were embarrassed 3-1 by little-known Mauritania - an inept performance that lacked energy, was absent of any notable game approach and, to be brutallu honest, laid bare the lack of any proper tactical planning and selection strategy.
So let’s look at where we are on this oft-quoted Vision 2022. Ostensibly this long-term venture is aimed at first qualifying Bafana for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and then making a real go of it - performance and results-wise - at the 2022 event in Qatar.
On being appointed as national coach in July last year, Shakes Mashaba was quick to freshen up the squad. While, at the time, his commitment to the next generation was admirable, it appears that recent selections suggest a change in policy. Desperate to qualify for the 2017 Afcon tournament, more older, experienced players have been drafted in again.
And to no avail, as witnessed by the humiliating defeat in Mauritania - because, judged on the evidence of the performance, there was definitely not enough thought given to selection or game strategy, or whether this fixture was in line with Vision 2022 or not.
Away fixtures on the continent are notoriously difficult. The approach, therefore, is paramount, especially if the motivation was to win at all costs. It’s pointless for a coach to pick what he thinks is the best team - it’s far more prudent to adopt a ‘horses for courses’ philosophy.
On the road, in tough cauldrons like Mauritania, a team needs warriors - combative, competitive footballers who don’t know when to quit, and players with unlimited, unwavering courage and a composed temperament in high-pressure situations. Mashaba was fully aware that he was going into the match with quite a few key players who were rusty from a lack of football, but he failed to heed the warning signs - and paid the price.
However, all this is moot because nobody really knows what Safa, Mashaba and Bafana really want. If it’s about Vision 2022, then surely, at this time (2015), it shouldn’t be about results. It should be about continuing the experimental, development and maturing process. It should be about persevering with the sincere desire to blood the next generation, to provide a stage and opportunities to grow their experience and game time. This, though, appears to have been abandoned, as seen in Mauritania.
I’ve said it before, I’ve said it often enough, and I’ll say it again … the problem is that, as a nation, we cannot lose with dignity. We never see the bigger picture, everything is about here and now, and reacting emotionally to every sporting defeat. In sport, absolutely no team, can win each and every game, it’s just not possible… In South Africa, we think it should be so. It’s the arrogance that characterises us as nation, as a people, that prevents football from progressing. And it’s this same arrogance and supercilious air, which pervades all nooks and crannies of our society, that will ensure we never progress as a country too.
And, again, for my two cents, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: For South African football to move forward, it needs far deeper introspection, it needs to start at grassroots, it needs to properly and fairly recognise and reward ability - and, more importantly, it needs to lose in order to win. If 2022 is the objective, then stick with it, get the talented youngsters in, play them, invest in them, be prepared to accept defeat, and reap the rewards much, much further down the line.
But, rest assured, it won’t happen. Because the next result is always far too important for everybody - and that is why football is stuck hopelessly in neutral, mired in myopia, and dictated to by the ‘Kasi Flavour’ addicts on the terraces.
But, on a more current, personal level, something that continues to alarm is that there appears to be two different sets of rules for footballers.
In January 2014, at the lowly African Nations Champions (CHAN) event, goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs’ blunder resulted in him becoming the scapegoat of the country. Vilified, hounded, nationally embarrassed, and even singled out for blame by our comical Sports Minister, Josephs has never been recalled to Bafana. He lost his national place and never got another look-in, even though his club form has been exemplary.
Goalkeeper Darren Keet erred in a 2015 Afcon match against Algeria earlier this year - and he, too, has been out in the cold ever since.
On Saturday, goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune allowed Mauritania to take the lead after a silly, schoolboy howler in the first half, and Bafana never recovered from his dreadful error.
So what do you think? Will Khune be banished to the sidelines, like Josephs and Keet? Dream on…
Cape Times