In the aftermath of the loss to Mauritania, a nation of coaches usually emerge pretty quickly – fifty million of us with reasons as to why our beloved Bafana Bafana failed.
If we are not patriotic enough, there wouldn’t be any such hullabaloo about Bafana’s loss to the minnows like Mauritania. The fact that South African football matters to us, and if it didn’t hurt, if we didn’t feel like we could compete and just accepted defeat, that would be a bigger problem.
I always believe that out of defeat comes the best lessons. Out of defeat comes reflection on what it will take to become better.
The loss to Mauritania shouldn’t be regarded as a knockout punch, but it was a punch that knocked us down. It showed us our weaknesses and as we get back up and regroup, will go a long way in guiding our preparation for the next games to come.
In our last African competitions, our downfall has always been our inability to convert chances that we created. Not that our performances were always mediocre. My other perception is that under Shakes Mashaba, Bafana Bafana always lacked a true and trusted leader on the field. Players on the field always need one leader (captain); someone they may look up to and respect – not just anyone. However, I loath to dwell on the past mistakes that would be unnecessary unconstructive criticism.
Hence, enough said about the disappointment of the result against Mauritania. What is something positive is that the games between Mauritania, Senegal and Bafana taught us about ourselves? Well, with most top club sides in the world, and even national sides, now playing a more possession-based game that usually ends in intricate short passing to unlock defences or individual brilliance to carve out scoring chances, as opposed to getting it wide and lobbing it in the middle, South African players have a natural tendency towards this approach.
In fact, when it comes to short passing; disguising your intentions and quick feet, we are right up there with some of the best in the world in that particular facet of the game. Nobody can disagree that Bafana in their day could tear teams in Africa and the world apart with back heels, ‘shibobos’ and ‘tsamayas’.
Remember the games we once played against the world’s best – Brazil and Spain? Hence, if we can now just add some more steel to our game, some more tactical awareness defensively and develop a killer instinct to finish off the chances we create, then we can start making progress as a footballing nation.
If that happens, this eternal hope we have every time our team walks onto the field will eventually yield joy and not the constant disappointment that comes with being a South African football fan.
Philani Hadebe is a freelance journalist
