The absence of a cohesive, coordinated overall programme at the helm of South African soccer was evident again on Monday when the Premier Soccer League (PSL) overturned its entire midweek programme, with top teams Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, Supersport United, Moroka Swallows and Ajax Cape Town now shorn of matches.
A PSL official explained the changes were necessitated by the South African Football Association’s (Safa) last-minute agreement with the Iceland Football Association to stage a game for Bafana Bafana on Wednesday in Reykjavik.
”The date of the Iceland game features on the Fifa calendar for internationals,” he added, ”and any club affected by the loss of even one player is entitled to ask for a postponement.”
”We initially took a chance in arranging a full programme of PSL matches,” admitted CEO Trevor Phillips, ”because of the frightening congestion with which we are faced during a domestic season shorn of two months because of the African Nations Cup and the World Cup.”
The PSL certainly did take a chance, Before the last-minute signing of the contract with Iceland, no fewer than 34 international matches had been arranged on the Fifa calendar, and with PSL clubs boasting a whole host of foreigners, postponements were on the cards in any case.
The fixture muddle has been repeated ad nauseam over the past two months, with Bafana forced to go to the United States with a depleted team for the Gold Cup tournament because Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns were involved in unofficial club competitions.
And the embarrassing first-half performance by Bafana in the Cosafa Cup game against Zambia on Saturday had its roots in another fixture muddle whereby coach Stuart Baxter was only able to finalise his squad 48 hours before the kick-off and SAA Supa8 matches were played simultaneously.
That Bafana managed to fight back from a 2-0 deficit and draw level at 2-2 in the second half before suffering a heartbreaking 9-8 defeat in the penalty shoot-out is to the credit of both the coach and the players.
The blame for the first-half debacle, in the circumstances, rests with starry-eyed, glory-seeking officials who seem oblivious to the realisation that to build an imposing structure one has to lay down a sound and stable foundation in the first place.
Dismal crowds, except when Pirates and Chiefs are in action, are also causing grave misgivings, with attendances at the Cosafa Cup, the Supersport-Santos game, the Sundowns-Ajax Cape Town matches and the prestige African Champions League clash between Ajax and Egyptian giants Al Ahly suggesting there were often little more than a man and his dog present. — Sapa