South Africa have lost twice to Australia and coach Clive Barker will want to rectify that, but he also has Ghana and Kenya to worry about
SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi
HAVING already established their reputation on South African rugby and cricket fields over the years, Australia will make their soccer debut in the Simba Four Nations Cup, which kicks off at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday, and has a $50 000 first prize. The other nations participating in the week-long event are Kenya and Ghana.
And there is little doubt that the needle and pride that prevails in the circles of the oval and little red ball, will continue on the soccer fields of South Africa.
This was clearly indicated by coach Eddie Thompson on the team’s arrival this week. “There will be no love lost on the field, we like knocking people around a bit, so do the South Africans,” he said. “We are serious about this tournament, this will be no holiday camp.”
Also, the last time the two countries met — during a short tour South Africa undertook “Down Under” — the Aussies ran out winners beating Bafana Bafana 1-0 on both occasions. These defeats were the first blotches in the copybook of national coach Clive Barker, something he will undoubtedly want to rectify.
The Aussies, though likely to be without most of their European-based players, are bound to provide the sternest challenge to the hosts in their third defence of the prestigious trophy. In 1994 South Africa shared the trophy with Cote d’Ivoire, and last year they won it outright, easily shrugging off the challenges of Zambia, Egypt and Zimbabwe.
Most importantly, the hosts have not lost a game in the two past Four Nations tournaments, six games in total.
But the much-awaited meeting between South Africa and Australia only takes place next Wednesday. This Saturday Bafana Bafana take on Kenya, while the Socceroos meet Ghana.
Contrary to popular belief, the youthful Kenyans, recent shock conquerors of Nations Cup quarterfinalists Algeria in a World Cup eliminator, could well provide stern opposition to Barker’s Bafana Bafana, who will be dedicating the game to the memory of late Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows stalwart, Eliakim “Pro” Khumalo. His son Doctor, also one of South African soccer’s greats, is expected to be in Saturday’s squad. The Kenyan side is expected to contain a few of the players that, despite losing 3-2, gave South Africa’s national Under-23 side a lesson in football a few months ago in a friendly.
Among those who played at Milpark were goalkeeper Matthews Ottomax and defenders Tom Juma and Musa Otieno.
Interestingly, or should I say alarmingly, while the Kenyans have players that graduated from their Under-23 squad, none of the South African players who played in that game have made any inroads as far as playing for the senior national side is concerned.
Barker has included five new players in his squad, and they join three other players who have yet to gain caps.
The uncapped players are Jacob Tshisevhe (28), Dumisa Ngobe (23), Bradley Muir (27), Lovers Mohlala (20), Edries Burton (27), Isaac Kungoane (25), Quinton Fortune (18) and Jerry Sikosana (28).
Food for thought indeed, especially if you look at the ages of the players on the verge of national selection, and then look at countries in the rest of Africa, with only a fraction of the financial input, and see the type of players they produce, and their ages when they break into the national squad.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how many uncapped players Clive Barker will use in the tournament, which should be used as an experiment in preparation for France `98, no matter the result.
Last season the tournament served as a route to success for quite a few players. With his two goals against Zambia, Mark Williams firmly established himself in a tournament that was make or break for him, after a period not long beforehand when he just failed to impress.
It was also Andre Arendse’s debut in that game against Zambia, and the Cape Town custodian has not looked back since. Neither did forward Shaun Bartlett, who along with Arendse had just clinched the double with their club, Cape Town Spurs.
Bartlett cemented his place in the Nations Cup squad, and then went on to secure a lucrative contract in the Major Soccer League (MSL) in the United States.
But in with the new came the old, and one player making a comeback to the squad for the tournament, is former Kaizer Chiefs star Fani Madida, now based in Turkey.
Earlier this year Madida attacked Barker in the media, questioning his non-selection, and now has basically forced himself back into the squad, with it seems, a gun to Barker’s head who has given in to pressure from the public and certain (influential) sections of the media. Recently Barker remarked that nobody will choose his squad for him. This time it seems, Mr Madida chose himself.
The tournament kicks off on Saturday in Durban with Ghana taking on Australia at 3pm followed by South Africa against Kenya at 5pm. On Wednesday (September 18) the action moves to the Johannesburg Stadium where Ghana meet Kenya at 6pm and South Africa have their crunch encounter with Australia at 8pm. The final matches are at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday (September 21) with Australia v Kenya at 7pm and South Africa v Ghana at 9pm.