JOHANNESBURG – A group of construction workers worked on refurbishing the cracked walls of the Nike Football Training Centre on Tuesday, where the Under-17 Gauteng Future Champions International Tournament is currently ongoing.
Plaster was applied to every area of the wall, where the old cement paste had fallen off.
The not-so-green walls of the two locker rooms were revived with a fresh new paint job, too.
Bafana Bafana legend Helman Mkhalele, who was also present on the day to witness some of the group stage matches, reckons the SA Football Association has been experiencing a revamp of their own lately as well.
Mkhalele, who is now Safa’s coaching instructor, said seeing South Africa’s national juniors qualify for major tournaments such as the Fifa Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups and the Olympics Games over the past two years has given him hope that the association were on the right track in getting their house back in order.
The “Midnight Express”, as Mkhalele is affectionately known, was part of the technical staff which led Amajita to qualify for their third World Cup appearance back in Zambia just recently, after having missed out on the previous editions since 2009.
It’s an achievement he prides himself on to this very day. However, the 47-year old coach warned that Safa and Amajita’s technical staff cannot afford to relax in thinking that their campaign in South Korea is going to be an easy one.
Amajita are in Group D and will lock horns with the likes of Uruguay, Japan and Italy in pursuit of qualifying for the next round of the World Cup tournament.
“I must say it felt great being part of that technical staff,” Mkhalele said. “Everybody gave it their all to ensure that we reached the World Cup finals. However, the job is not done yet. We are drawn in a very tough group.
“We need to make sure that we get good sides to play against, leading up to this major event. Countries like the United States, who will stretch our boys and help them to improve their game and work-rate on the pitch.”
Mkhalele, who now holds a Caf A coaching licence, said working with the national Under-20s helped him to identify some of the key areas which need to be addressed on grassroots level, as failure to do so might see South Africa fail to build on their recent successes they’ve had with national juniors, in years to come.
“As an instructor, I work with upcoming coaches who are still trying to acquire their Safa D coaching licences,” Mkhalele said.
“Having been with the national Under-20s, I’ve identified some of the key areas that need to be addressed on a developmental level. For example, lack of concentration at the back, after having produced a comfortable lead in a match. That needs to change.
“Our players also need to learn how not to get too excited, having scored first and also not to get too nervous, when they are trailing behind.
“If we can address those issues then, I don’t see us struggling to continue to qualify for major events such as the Afcon or the World Cup tournaments.”
Meanwhile, Football School of India suffered their second consecutive worst defeat in the Future Champions tournament to Bidvest Wits, following a 20-0 hiding by the Braamfontein outfit.
In their first match, they went down 15-0 to Spartak Moscow of Russia. In the other match, Orlando Pirates found their winning form after beating the University of Pretoria 4-0 in their second match of the tournament, following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge in their first match.
Results
Day 2
Torino FC 0 NPFL All Stars 3; Orlando Pirates 4 University of Pretoria 0; Football School of India 0 Bidvest Wits 20; Club Brugge 1 Club Tijuana 2; Safa Tshwane 0 Spartak Moscow 3; Atletico Madrid 0 Mamelodi Sundowns 0.
Day 1
Safa Tshwane 1 NPFL All-Stars 1; Spartak Moscow 15 Football School of India 0; Orlando Pirates 1 Club Brugge 2; Bidvest Wits 2 Torino FC 1; University of Pretoria 0 Atletico Madrid 4; Mamelodi Sundowns 1 Club Tijuana 0.