Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
He entered the medium-size, thickly- carpeted hotel room in Parktown clad in black from top to toe. Black sweatshirt, black trousers and black shoes with a shine that doubled as a mirror.
He exuded a pride born out of being good at his job, which must rank among the most difficult and stressful in South African sport. He also appeared slightly tense. Perhaps his mind had wandered forward to August 16.
Durban-based national soccer coach Clive Barker was in town to attend yet another announcement of yet another squad, although this one carried particular significance. D-day was approaching. The 23 footballers assemble this weekend to prepare for a match labelled by South African Football Association chief executive officer Danny Jordaan as the most important in the history of the organisation.
Ordinarily, one might have suspected the likeable official from the Eastern Cape was trying to add a few thousand to the attendance. On this occasion he was simply slamming the nail firmly on the head.
Come next Saturday at 3.30, South Africa face Congo (the Brazzaville version as opposed to the Kinshasa one) in a match that will determine which country goes to the 1998 World Cup finals in France. A win or draw for South Africa and they will take their place at the quadrennial showpiece of international football; a defeat will lead to the seemingly unthinkable with Congo qualifying as one of the five African representatives.
Bafana Bafana are so near and yet so far. It could be Brazil, or Argentina, or Italy, or Germany, or England in Paris, or Lens, or Marseilles, or Bordeaux, or Lyon next June. Or it could be a friendly against Swaziland in Mbabane.
Barker left the squad announcement to Jordaan, whose list included one newcomer to the national squad, Isaac Shai, a 26- year-old defender-cum-midfielder from Sundowns.
Shai has been a consistently good performer for many months as a conventional leftback and as a left wingback and while his call- up seemed to catch the Fourth Estate by surprise, it should not have.
Shai has been knocking firmly on the door for some time and contrary to what some media members would have us believe, Barker does listen to those taps, however faint they may appear.
Out of the squad that overwhelmed Zambia 3- 0 in June went long-serving fullback David Nyathi and striker Jerry Sikhosana. Barker stressed to the assembled audience that Nyathi had been dropped without elaborating. It is a fact that Nyathi, on a six-month loan to Spanish club Tenerife, has failed to impress a new coach and returned to Swiss side Saint Gallen.
Sikhosana has been serving a three-match ban following his expulsion in the Charity Spectacular.
Otherwise, Barker has relied on, to coin a well-worn South African soccer phrase, the tried and trusted. The bottom line is that Barker has relied on men who are winners when it comes to achieving results. South Africa had no right to lift the African Nations Cup just four years after returning to international football following decades in the wilderness, but they defeated Tunisia to achieve the ultimate continental goal.
South Africa have no right to qualify for the World Cup just five years after being humiliated by Nigeria in their first appearance, but the odds are that come 5pm next Saturday Congo will be conquered. Until then Barker may continue to feel slightly tense because while the players are always feted in victory, the coach is always responsible when the players are defeated. Fortunately for the coach they call The Dog, losses have been few.
Provided the African champions keep their feet firmly planted on terra firma, they should overcome opponents described by Barker as men worthy of the same respect as any African powerhouse and he mentioned Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.
While the coach is certainly entitled to his opinion, perhaps he was being too diplomatic. Congo in the intimidating cauldron of Pointe-Noire are one team, Congo outside their borders something else.
Away from the indisciplined, rifle-wielding soldiers, the training ground that doubled as a sandy rubbish dump, and the continual, carefully-orchestrated harassment, the Red Devils seem to lose much of their venom.
Unless they perform well above the level displayed in Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, and Bafana Bafana are lulled into a false sense of security, Clive Barker will occupy a stress-free zone come mid-month.