Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg)
Ntuthuko Maphumulo
8 February 2002
Firing the coach is not what South African soccer needs
From heroes to zeroes. That's the best way to describe the performance of the Bafana Bafana team in the African Cup of Nations in Mali. Just when South Africa thought the national team was coming right after a 3-1 win against Morocco, they flopped 0-2 against the hosts.
Bafana were the second-worst performers of the five African countries going to the World Cup. Only top-ranked Tunisia fared worse, being knocked out in the group stages.
But the call made by local coaches and in newspapers' letters pages for coach Carlos Queiroz to be fired are reactionary and myopic. Queiroz must be allowed to see out his contract and avoid creating more instability before the team competes in Korea/Japan in June. What is needed from South African Football Association (Safa) executives and Bafana supporters is cool heads.
For the problems that have been raised have been there for some time, ranging from the coach persisting with Quinton Fortune and Benni McCarthy to questionable tactical decisions. If people wanted Queiroz out, the call could have been made after the 3-0 humiliation by Sweden or when he announced the inclusion of Eric Tinkler, Fortune and McCarthy on December 28 last year.
But this does not mean the coach is off the hook for the bad performance. His tactical limitations persist. They showed when he failed to substitute Mbulelo "Old John" Mabizela and Fortune in the early minutes of the game against Mali after both were exposed - one for inexperience and the latter for lack of commitment.
But past mistakes must not be repeated. In 1998, after Safa axed Clive Barker it brought in Jomo Sono for the Nations Cup before Philippe Troussier took over a matter of weeks before the World Cup. The Frenchman proved more quack than his nickname, "the white witchdoctor".
Barker and Sono are being punted as replacements - as is Queiroz's immediate predecessor, Trott Moloto - but that would be a step backwards.
Recalling veteran players like Phil Masinga and John "Shoes"Moshoeu is also not the answer.
The coach and his technical staff have to return to the drawing board and start seriously to prepare for the World Cup.
He must examine what went wrong with the players he took to Mali and present a report to Safa.
Tinkler should be dropped, the likes of Fortune should try to regain their form, Bradley August must prove that he is national material and Thabo Mngomeni must start getting a run at club level.
A number of players who did not see much action in Mali should be retained, but Queiroz should begin to look at the young talent in the Premier Soccer League. Players like Benedict Vilakazi and Jabu Pule must be fast-tracked through the ranks so as to be ready for the World Cup.
The Safa administration should start preparations for Korea/Japan now - and not two weeks before the tournament as they did with the Nations Cup.
Players called up for training camps should be told if they do not attend they must forget about representing the country ever again. Safa must stop playing second fiddle in the club-versus-country row and crack down on the club bosses.
The best South Africa can hope for in the World Cup is for Bafana Bafana to reach the knockout stages.
To do that they will have to win at least one game in the group stages, which will be an improvement on the two draws and a loss in 1998. The man to help them achieve that goal is Carlos Queiroz. (ACONS)
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