SOCCER: Gerald Combrinck
MORE or less a year ago in a packed and highly emotional=20 Ellis Park Stadium more than 50 000 South Africans=20 experienced possibly the greatest moment in their lives.
Having been inaugurated just hours earlier as South=20 Africa’s first democratic president, Nelson Mandela’s first=20 official assignment was to watch the national soccer side=20 play Zambia in his honour. The presence of the president=20 served to lift the home side to such an extent that within=20 minutes of Mandela arriving South Africa scored twice in as=20 many minutes to beat the shell-shocked Zambians 2-1.=20
National coach Clive Barker aims to take his unbeaten=20 record to eight games when the national soccer squad play=20 Argentina in their first serious game as preparation for=20 the African Nations Cup finals, which South Africa hosts=20 next year.
And so confident is Barker that he has promised to run the=20 Comrades Marathon should the Argentinians win Saturday’s=20 game at Ellis Park and take the Nelson Mandela Inauguration=20 Challenge trophy back to South America.
But a tough task awaits the home side who will have most of=20 their “foreign legion” back for the clash against a young=20 Argentinian side, who are preparing first for the Copa=20 America which starts later this year, and in the long term=20 for the 1998 World Cup to be held in France.
But in the run up to the game Barker has had to endure the=20 frustration of key players getting injured, most notably=20 the man who was likely to keep goal, Cape Town Spurs’ Andre=20 Arendse. Arendse injured his knee while training with Spurs=20 a week ago, but has recovered and after a brilliant game=20 against Hellenic, in which he overshadowed Steve Crowley,=20 Arendse has said he is available for a late call up, if=20
Barker’s plan to test his centre-back pairing of Mark Fish=20 and Lucas Radebe in preparation for the Nations Cup were=20 cruelly shattered when both were injured over the past=20 month, Radebe, while playing for Leeds United in England,=20 and Fish in a league game against Amazulu.
This leaves Barker with less options, and it is likely he=20 will use Andrew Tucker and Steve Komphela in the centre of=20 defence, with Edward Motale and Sizwe Motaung on the=20 flanks. Tucker has the rare distinction of being the only=20 second division player to represent the national side so=20
Neil Tovey, judging by his performances for Kaizer Chiefs,=20 is also in line for a position in the centre of defence,=20 but it is questionable whether this is advisable at this=20 level of soccer. But if so, then Komphela will probably=20 move to one of the flanks.
After good performances against Lesotho both John Moeti and=20 Doctor Khumalo look assured of places in the starting line- up, Khumalo in particular looks to have recovered from his=20 groin injury, and a spell of dismal form. He is also a=20 player who rises to the occason particularly when it is for=20 the national side, as he has proved to his critics time and=20
South Africa look particularly strong up front, where,=20 besides the local contingent, Barker has also called up=20 three overseas based players, Mark Williams, Phil Masinga=20 and German-based Shaun Dundee. Locally, not much is known=20 about Dundee, but if all goes well he is likely to play a=20 major role for South Africa in the future.
Even though Argentina will be without Gabriel Batistuta and=20 Fernando Redondo they are likely to bring a strong squad=20 that will include part of the side that recently won the=20 World Youth Cup in Qatar.
One player who did play in the 1994 World Cup and who will=20 be in the squad is Ariel Ortega, who came into the side=20 after Maradona’s tragic departure from the World Cup.