Now that the South African football squads for the Rio Olympics have been announced, what is in store for the national Under-23 team and Banyana Banyana? As the real countdown to the Games begins, Matshelane Mamabolo and Njabulo Ngidi spoke to Kenny Ndlazi and Joseph Mkhonza – coaches who have been there before – to find out what Owen da Gama and Vera Pauw might be going through.
Matshelane Mamabolo: Coach Kenny, so how did you guys feel having announced your squad for Sydney 2000?
Kenny Ndlazi: There was a huge sense of relief because selecting the final 18 was very difficult. The stress is over. Like Owen, we also tried to get a top overseas-based player in Dumisa Ngobe but his club in Turkey said no. I think (Andile) Jali would have been great for Owen’s team.
MM: You’d have long started your preparations but being in the final straight, what is it that you work on?
KN: Once we had the 18 players, the prayer was that none of them pick up injuries – even though we had players on standby. Secondly, we had to work on maintaining team spirit. Over time the boys become very close and announcing the final squad means you cut down some of them and that means breaking up strong relationships. So it is important you keep tabs on the boys to make sure they are not devastated by their friends missing out and that it affects them negatively going to the Games. You have to make sure they understand it was inevitable some of them will stay behind. Also, to make the boys realise this is more about the country than individuals. Leadership is very important this time. We were lucky to have a great captain in Matthew Booth. Brian Baloyi was (also) key as the older player. (Itumeleng) Khune and (Mulomowandau) Mathoho will have to step up in the leadership stakes and keep the boys grounded.
MM: And how do you ensure the players don’t get too excited by the prospect of going to the Games?
KN: Because they’d been together for a long time working towards this goal, the excitement was always going to be there. What we did was simply maintain the family spirit in the squad. You don’t want to turn it into a military camp and stress the boys. Just make them realise the bigger picture, make them realise this is an opportunity, a shop window that could see them take their careers to the next level.
MM: You were going to be in charge with Bra Shakes (Mashaba) suspended, how does a coach feel knowing he is a few weeks ahead of the biggest match of his career?
KN: We’d always been a team, we’d worked together with Shakes and Thabo (Dladla) for a long time and we were all close with the boys. Even though I was to be in charge for the match against Japan, we still worked together. But it was an exciting time for me, and the good thing was the boys had confidence in me given the way we had worked with Shakes. They respected me and that made things easier. I also spent some time in the build-up talking to them individually telling them they must just go out there and show the world what they are capable of.
MM: What advice, if any, would you give to Owen as he begins the final countdown to the big day?
KN: Don’t bring anything new into your way of playing because that might confuse the players. Set targets in consultation with the players. Let them tell you what they’d like to achieve. Monitor the boys and check on their mood, find out if there’s anything bothering them and try to help them be in the right space mentally.
Njabulo Ngidi: What did it mean for you to guide Banyana Banyana to their first Olympics appearance?
Joseph Mkhonza: It wasn’t so much about me but about the country and the girls. It meant a lot for them because it exposed them to a wider audience. It was a similar feeling when we took the Under-17s to the World Cup for the first time. I served as assistant coach to Solly Luvhengo there. Three players from that squad, who are going to the Olympics, now play abroad which shows the importance of international exposure.
NN: How did you prepare for the Olympics with no reference point?
JM: The preparations started the day after we secured qualification. We had around 30 players we had used during the qualifiers. We stuck with them for continuity. The idea was to have them ready for the Olympics so that if we lost an important member leading up to the tournament, the replacement would be ready. So we tried to use as many combinations as we could in friendlies we played. It wasn’t so much about the results but to get everyone on the same level so when we choose the squad, even the players on standby are ready should we need them. It made things easier after we selected the 18 to work on specific things because there wasn’t a player who was a parcel. They were all there for a reason.
NN: What lessons did you learn during the Olympics?
JM: A good start is vital. We lost our first two games so by the time we played Japan, who were the world champions, we were already out of the tournament. The draw we got from them amounted to nothing. We also learned that world class teams can play with a high tempo from the first minute to the last. We were constantly catching up with them which is why fitness levels must be high. I think what let us down is that we didn’t play a lot of matches with teams who were at a high level.
NN: How can we ensure that qualifying for major tournaments is a regular thing?
JM: Our biggest problem is that we change too much. If there was continuity it wouldn’t have taken the men’s team 16 years to qualify for the Olympics for the second time. I looked at the (women’s) squad we are taking to the Olympics, I thought that it would be made up of mostly players who played in London. Experience is important.
– The Sunday Independent