SOCCER: Andy Capostagno
If it’s August, can the English soccer season be far=20 behind? Sad, but true, alas. And if you don’t think it’s=20 sad you obviously didn’t see Leeds United’s two=20 contributions to the United Bank Challenge.
At Loftus Versfeld, Mamelodi Sundowns outplayed the=20 Yorkshire Monoliths, but only won 1-0 thanks to some=20 typically English defending which stopped just a little=20 way short of open brutality. At Ellis Park three days=20 later, a Leeds side with four changes reinvented itself=20 to the extent that it managed all of three shots on=20 target in 90 minutes of goalless action, if action is=20 the right word, with Benfica.
It was a match for which the word cynical might have=20 been invented. Two sides who had each been paid R1,5=20 million just to turn up, wandered around Ellis Park=20 like models on the catwalk, afraid to break into a sweat=20 in case it stained their designer shirts. Leeds’ most=20 fluent movement began in the Benfica 18 yard box and a=20 few perfect passes later ended in the hands of their own=20 goalkeeper. English football, reversing into the future.
“We were afraid of the altitude”, said Leeds captain=20 Gary McAllister. “We were all breathless after=20 Thursday’s game so we had to slow it down today”.
“The uneven pitch made ball control very difficult”,=20 said Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson “But one has to=20 expect that on a rugby pitch”. Leeds, of course, know=20 nothing of such conditions, as Elland Road only hosts=20 rugby-league matches and it is well known that the=20 divots made by the union game are far worse than those=20 in league.
Fortunately the sponsors’ blushes were saved by a=20 vibrant main match between Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs.=20 Kenny Niemach, the goal scorer against Leeds, got two=20 this time as Sundowns ran their oppo- ents ragged with the kind of constant movement that the=20 English game is supposed to be famous for. Thankfully=20 there was a generous helping of skill, something that=20 the English game is not famous for.
United Bank have tried and failed for three years to get=20 foreign clubs to reproduce their best form within South=20 Africa and now must be the time to say enough is enough.=20 Leeds were in the country for less than five days, saw =20 nothing of it, contributed nothing to either their=20 matches or the development programme and left weighted=20 down with money. Sundowns earned a tenth as much as=20 Leeds for winning the competition.
The isolation years are over and it is no longer=20 necessary to anaesthetise the conscience of visitors=20 with large injections of cash.
Foreign clubs should be paying their own money to come=20 and enjoy the kind of facilities, weather and support=20 that provide perfect pre-season warm-ups.
It is time, too, to put away our blinkered regard for=20 English football. For about six years after England won=20 the World Cup in 1966 the English first division could=20 consider itself a world leader.
Since then it has produced a handful of truly talented=20 players, most of whom were forced to go abroad to have=20 their abilities appreciated.
Every team in the NSL has at least one player worth the=20 entrance money to watch.
We should be concentrating on developing those players,=20 not spending precious funds to bring over pin-headed=20 bores like Leeds United.