In defence of Santana

Why is it that the first option whenever the national soccer team, Bafana Bafana under perfom is to fire the coach? Firing the coach has become too easy for South Africans and we still expect good results after firing the coach. Our national team is currently ranked somewhere in the 70’s in FIFA’s ranking. Who can we blame for this, who should we fire for getting us in this bad situation. I for one think that we need to first fire the owners of most teams in the premier soccer league, because they are not investing enough resources in their teams. I heard a very shocking fact that only two or three teams in the whole PSL have their own canteen that caters to the nutritious needs of the players.

This basically means that the other 13 teams in the PSL after finishing training their players easily go past a McDonald or KFC for a bite, this therefore has an impact on the players ability on the field, well fed players are able to perform better in the field . I am not attacking the fact that the players eat at McDonalds or KFC as I for one am a big supporter of these two franchises ‘no pun intended’ but the issue here is that we have a culture of apathy in our football in South Africa. We do not train as hard as the players in Europe, we lack discipline and excellence. I heard someone saying that most teams in the PSL think that having a fulltime physician is a joke. They would rather trust the bloke that works at Virgin Active.

This again shows that we lack excellence. It is in such a background as this that we as South Africa expect Bafana Bafana to beat the likes of Germany. Let me make it clear that just one of the 11 players in the German run on side is probably worth more then the whole Bafana Bafana starting 11. Look at the likes of Michael Ballack, Podolski etc these are quality players that have mastered the art of playing football, and yet we expect a Bafana Bafana side that has relatively few player that play soccer in Europe day in and day out to outdo a class act like Germany.

I am passionate about my support for Bafana Bafana, but yet I know when to expect them to win and not to win. We need to be realistic in our expectations of our boys, let’s groom them and raise their confidence. Who remembers 10 years ago Ghana was nothing in the African soccer map, but now they are feared by many countries, recently their Under 20 side defeated USA 4-0 in the FIFA under 20 world cup. Let us put down our spears and take up our vuvuzela’s in support of Bafana Bafana, and let us remember that consistency in team selection and coaching wins big games not chopping and changing.

Senzo Mzila