SEDIBENG.- After the U/17 Men National Team failed to qualify for the U/17 FIFA World Cup the development coaches were at the receiving end with many blaming them for Amajimbos’s failure.
HELL no!
Don’t ever involve poor development coaches in U/17 national team disaster because those players who represented the team are from the so-called PSL Clubs’ development and academies. This has nothing to do with grassroots coaches because we handed those players to those so-called elite academies to further their development but clearly, we were wrong to think they are in the capable hands.
The problem with South African football, in particular, development is bigger than meets the eye. As long as SAFA appoints people who know nothing about development to be responsible for running our national teams either as administrators or managers, we are not going anywhere.
The reason why people will blame development coaches for junior national teams’ failure is because they lack knowledge. For example, go check half of those U/17 national team players are from your PSL clubs and you blame grassroots coaches?
As development coaches, we have nothing to do with Amajibos!
Yes, you heard me, “we” because yours truly, TOUCHLINE is involved with the development of football in Sedibeng.
Not long ago, it was the U/23 national team that failed to qualify for the Olympics Games and now it is the U/17 national team. Where are we going as a football nation, to say the least? The solution to our problem is to call a National Soccer Indaba to sit around the table to come out with a ‘Blue Print’ to guide us to be a force to be reckoned with in the world.
As long as SAFA doesn’t invest in grassroots football we will continue to struggle to qualify for the major tournaments as a football national. The World Cup is the biggest stage where every youngster dreams to play. The only national team that seems to be productive, is Banyana Banyana who qualify for any major football event regardless of being paid less compared to their Bafana Bafana counterparts.
Yes, I just said it! MATTER OF FACT, there is a need for a National Soccer Indaba to draft Football Blue Print!
