How Safa TD works with national teams

South African Football Association (Safa) technical director Walter Steenbok has introduced a debrief with staff of all the national teams, saying this will now be a common practice at Safa.

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Steenbok revealed that he has met up with up with the Banyana Banyana technical team, where each member had to give a report following the team’s friendly matches against Brazil and Australia last year.

He also already sat down with the Under-20 coaching staff after they competed at the qualifiers for the 2023 Afcon in Egypt, held in Eswatini late last year.

The Safa technical director explains that when they have a sit down with the coach and the rest of the technical staff, they want to know about the lessons learned and where there is a need for improvement for the respective teams.

“So this is the common practice here now. I met with Banyana Banyana when they came back from the friendly match against Australia in London (in October 2022). We allowed them to play the friendlies against Brazil (in September) and then immediately after the Australia match we had a debrief. So this is now standard here at Safa,” Steenbok told Safa.net.

“From the tournament we now have a debrief where all the members of the technical team give input about their own reports during camp. The key elements are the lessons we learn, and where we can improve as we go forward.”

Under-17s

On Tuesday, Steenbook was set to continue with the debriefing through a zoom meeting with the mens Under-17 technical staff after they took part at the Under-17 Cosafa Championships in Malawi last December and finished as runners-up.

“So this is not a witch hunt. I am also talking to National Under-17 women’s team coach Delisile Mbatha, and Ntombifuthi Khumalo about how things went in Malawi, their preparations ahead of the tournament, their challenges and how we can improve,” he concluded.