Sport evolves, and if teams don’t adapt, you can rest assured, success will likely evade them.
Let’s look at the Springboks for example, they were so dominant in one of their best years in Springbok rugby history, 2009. Although it wouldn’t be admitted, the Rugby World Cup tweaked a couple of the game’s rules to give the team on the offence an advantage and to make the game ‘quicker’ and thus ‘more entertaining’ to the eye.
That, coupled with political interference, resulted in the once mighty Boks falling from the top of world rugby.
The point is, never mind the reasons, whether they were fair/justified or not, the game had evolved.
And one can argue that the Green and Gold are still trying to adapt to modern rugby which favours a running game with ball in hand as opposed to the slower forwards smash-and-bash game, which the Boks executed better than anyone.
This applies in football as well.
The game has moved planets since Bafana Bafana won their only African Nations Cup, now Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), title back in 1996 under the tutelage of Clive Barker.
Since then, players have become better athletes, more advanced soccer balls have been designed and last but certainly not least, players have become better students of the game.
But somehow, the once mighty Bafana Bafana continued to fall behind the pack as the years progressed – except around 2002, the last time the national football team qualified for the Fifa World Cup on merit and not by default as was the case in 2010.
Apart from the obvious fact that our professional footballers are just not up to national football standard, the country lacks the solution to the root of our football’s problem: coaches who understand player development.
The problem, therefore, is not the lack of talent, it’s the process at which the nation’s talent is channelled to give our national team coaches the best players.
Stuart Baxter recently named his 23-man squad for the latest instalment of the Afcon in Egypt.
As usual, this has caused divisions in opinions, but the coach has done his bit, it’s his responsibility not to develop players, he can only select what’s available to him.
Something that many soccer lovers fail to understand.
It doesn’t really matter who Baxter selected, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference, if any, when it comes to Bafana’s fortunes.
Looking at the 23 men Baxter recently invited to represent the country in Egypt, none of them would make it into the starting line-up of let’s say, Tottenham Hotspur, let alone the biggest teams in Europe.
You can hire the best coaches in the world, a la Carlos Alberto Perreira, but until the root of our football’s problem is addressed, Bafana Bafana are not challenging for any major competitions – let alone win.
It’s always easy to cover the cracks by bringing in the best coaches, playing a million friendly matches and selecting overseas based players as a quick solution for success, but you cannot escape the lack of a foundation and/or structure, as Bafana have proven in the past 20-odd years.
Hosting the World Cup was great and because South Africa was the host nation, there was a sudden false sense that a miracle would happen, which would see Bafana go deep in the competition.
The group wasn’t all that difficult to be fair: the opening game against Mexico was there for the taking and so was the one against a French side which was in disarray.
Excuses are hard to find as to what prevented success – the team just wasn’t good enough.
There’s only so much a coach can do.
Of course, it’s always exciting when your country participates in a major tournament, underdogs or not. There’s been bickering about Baxter’s team, but there’s also that false hope, again, that this time, Bafana won’t disappoint.
I’ll probably watch the boys as they do their thing in Egypt, but excuse me for not being hopeful.
Bafana Bafana squad for Afcon 2019:
Goalkeepers: Darren Keet (Wits), Bruce Bvuma (Kaizer Chiefs), Rowen Williams (Supersport)
Defenders: Daniel Cardoso (Kaizer Chiefs), Ramahlwe Mphahlele (Kaizer Chiefs), Thulani Hlatshwayo (Wits), Innocent Maela (Orlando Pirates), Sifiso Hlanti (Wits), Buhle Mkhawanazi (Wits), Thamsanqa Mkhize (Cape Town City)
Midfielders: Bongani Zungu (Amiens), Hlompho Kekana (Mamelodi Sundowns), Dean Furman (SuperSport United), Kamohelo Mokotjo (Brentford), Tiyani Mabunda (Mamelodi Sundowns), Thulani Serero (Vitesse), Thembinkosi Lorch (Orlando Pirates), Themba Zwane (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Strikers: Lebo Mothiba (Strasbourg), Percy Tau (Royal St Union), Lars Veldwijk (Sparta Rotterdam), Lebogang Maboe (Mamelodi Sundowns), Sibusiso Vilakazi (Mamelodi Sundowns)
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