The African Cup of Nation (AFCON) is under way in Cameroon but our own Bafana Bafana is not part of this continental showpiece. As much as we are made to believe that Ghana is responsible for Bafana Bafana not being part of AFCON due to that controversial penalty, TOUCHLINE likes to differ.
Ghana is not responsible for our failure not to qualify for both AFCON and Qatar World Cup. As a country, we are to be blamed for the situation that we find ourselves in. It has nothing to do with Ghana or controversial refereeing but it something to do with the development of our football in this country.
If we think Ghana or the referee is responsible for our failure to qualify for both AFCON and Qatar World Cup, then we are misleading ourselves to say the least. There are many factors that contributed to our failure as a football nation, the development of our football in this country being one of them.
Secondly, our young players are either sitting on the bench or on the stands while the foreigners play week-in-and-week-out. Point in case, for the three big three teams the first-choice goalkeepers are from outside the country. TOUCHLINE is not against PSL teams signing foreign players, but it becomes a problem when it comes to our national team. For example, at one stage the England national team had the same problem with the majority of players being from outside. This affected their national team and so it has Bafana Bafana.
Thirdly, there is a serious need to have National Soccer Indaba to discus our Blue Print as a football nation. We don’t even know what our identity as the nation is as there is no uniformity between our junior national teams and Bafana Bafana. In fact, there is no cohesion in South African football when it comes to our national teams. The junior national teams coaches pull to their own directions and Bafana Bafana coach to his own direction.
At one stage, the Spain national team was consisting of FC Barcelona players because the club also represented the culture of the Spanish football.
Those with long memories will attest to this, that when Bafana Bafana won 1996 AFACON our PSL was dominated by local players with only a few exceptional players from outside, unlike today. Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t have a problem with foreign players as long as they bring quality in our league, but we must also bear in mind this is weakening our national team.
The problem with South African football is that we are not patient enough with young players who have been promoted to the top-flight football. They are made to rot on the bench or on the stands because of the ‘win at all cost mentality’.
We have been told that football is all about business that is why these youngsters are not playing because coaches are under pressure to produce results and as a results of this, they are forced to use the so called “readymade” or experienced players. But what about the so-called experienced players who offer nothing in the field of player? Kaizer Chiefs went all the way to CAF final with youngsters but this season they signed the so-called experience dcampaigners.
TOUCHLINE wants to see the situation whereby our national teams specifically Bafana Bafana players are selected from all the leagues, including the Diski Challenge as long as they are good enough to play at this level. TOUCHLINE believes there is a need for National Soccer Indaba to have our own Blue Print as a football nation.
