SonOfAPitch

I am a big sports fanatic.  One sport though, and I know I will be stoned for saying this, that never really grew on me, although I know a lot about it, is soccer.

I know enough about SA soccer in particular to recognize that our very own recent “golden age” is something of the past, and it’s been p[ast tense for a good few years as well.  I am referring to the time when Eric Tinkler, Lucas Radebe, Niel Tovey, Mark Fish, Shoes and a very young Benny Mac was playing the game free from interference of the soccer bosses.

The pressure put on Bafana to perform is enormous and that no other sport in South Africa (and I think more than one rugby lover will disagree) carries as much responsibility as soccer.  This responsibility stretches further than on the pitch results as the soccer bosses and government was pushing to have a national team in a sport that is truly representative of the South African public and as such would be presented as role models to the youngsters.   

I think that the situation currently with their imported coach Carlos Pareira can only turn nasty.  In any game there are a number of exercises that needs to be completed in order to perform to the best of your ability.  It is all about training, your mindset, physical fitness, mental toughness, conditioning, strategy, skills training and the level of skills present in the player involved.  Shoot me if you wish, but I don’t think the best coach in the world can help a side when the skills are lacking.  

It’s almost as if the South African public became restless after having spent years watching their side being trounced in friendly and international matches.  The move to get the ex Brazil coach in for an exorbitant amount of money was a good one, but only from a public relations point of view.  How can any administrator worth his salt be of the opinion that a set of players, that can hardly compete with Lesotho (with a total population the size of Pretoria ), can be trained to do the impossible?  Carlos is a man, not a god.  His success was built on the fact that Brazil has a wealth of natural wizards of the round ball.  When will the soccer bosses realize that their success does not lay in the services of a man that is just …a man?  When the public realizes it first?  When the general feeling starts to wash over everyone that makes you feel like saying “Ok…now we have tried everything…what should now be done?”

I have this feeling that the only way forward is proper development of young talent.  A lot is done to do that already, but is the people involved in those programs necessarily the right person for the job?  I am not pointing fingers, but I saw an insert on TV a week ago about a development soccer tourney that was organized where dozens of teams vied for a trophy.  Awesome!  But now what happens to those players that have been noticed during the tourney?  Anyone?  Are they left to their own devices?  I find it hard to believe that an administrator’s heart can be in the right place when he proclaims from the rooftops that he loved to see the raw natural shine through at the tourney, but upon being asked about the development of that talent, he said: “There is plenty of scouts around.  I am sure they will be taken care of…”.  Not good enough.

SA have slipped I the world rankings from a good-ish 32 around ten years ago to a low 78 (December 2007).  Even with our current coach.  In Africa there should not be more than 10 real contenders at any given moment for any Afcon trophy.  The continent is juts not big enough to house more “real” contenders.  We are ranked number 17 in Africa .  That is BAD!  When will anyone start to take responsibility for soccer and the impending talent being bled into higher leagues?  Why can our international youth teams do so well in international competitions but you rarely see them make an appearance in senior competitions?  Something is wrong.

Stop blaming Benny for not playing for his country and accuse him of single handedly ruining the national team.  Stop looking for excuses to avoid the real crunch situations.  Stop blaming coaches for poor performances.  You breed lazy players, uninspired players and worst of all, players that does not see any reason in bettering themselves.  It’s time to hold the playing players accountable.  After all, all our sporting codes do it.  Look at Beckham, he was sent packing due to bad form.  And this is a guy that would walk into any squad in world football.  And he was posted out of a side that could not qualify for Euro 2008.  

Nuff said.

Use it, don’t use it…