Julian Drew Soccer
Willem Jackson proved to be a revelation on his debut for Bafana Bafana in the friendly international against France on Saturday, but the irony is that had the little-known Pierre Issa been fit, Jackson would probably have been on the bench. “It was disappointing that Pierre was injured because he would have played against France. Hopefully he will be ready to play against Germany next month,” said Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker after the game.
Issa is a central defender with Olympique Marseille, one of the top sides in France, but it was only learnt that he was eligible to play for South Africa when he came here on holiday in June and was put in touch with Barker. With Jackson already having impressed on his debut and Issa ready to play a role, South Africa could soon have a very different look at the back to the side which qualified for France.
The reason nobody realised Issa was available for South Africa is because he left the country when he was only 11 years old. “My parents are Lebanese and when the civil war broke out in 1975 my granny told them to come to stay in South Africa where she was already living. I was born in Germiston that same year but then I moved to France with my family when my father started a business in Paris,” says Issa.
Although he used to play for fun with his cousins in Germiston it was only when he arrived in France that he joined a proper team and started to show potential. At 17 he was snapped up by second-division side Dunkerque and it was there that he caught the eye of former international goalkeeper Jean Castenada when Issa played against his old club Saint Etienne. “He was coaching at Marseille and he asked me to join them. It was a great honour to go to Marseille because they were the first French team to win the European Cup and are one of the most famous clubs in Europe.”
When Issa joined Marseille they had just been relegated to the second division after an infamous bribery scandal. Now they are back in the first division challenging for honours and Issa has just signed a new, four-year contract.
“My granny had always been asking after me so this June I decided to go back to South Africa and see my family. It was my first time back in 10 years and I really fell in love with the country. When I returned to France I told my parents they should emigrate back to South Africa and last week that’s exactly what they did.”
Issa had often thought about South Africa and one of his Marseille team mates had even suggested he play for Bafana Bafana. Medhi Ben Slimane, Tunisia’s star striker in the last Nations Cup, told Issa before the finals in South Africa that he should consider playing for South Africa because they were a very good team. “I wasn’t convinced because I thought nobody in South Africa would know who I was and I was right.”
Fortunately Issa’s uncle is a friend of Charlene Weber who is involved in women’s soccer and when she heard about Issa in June she took him along to meet Barker. “He invited me to train with the national squad and then I watched the match against Zambia. I was very impressed by the way Bafana Bafana played and how full the stadium was. That’s how my story with Bafana Bafana began and its funny really because if I hadn’t gone there on holiday nobody would ever have heard about me.”
When he began pre-season training with Marseille in August he developed a back injury and had to rest for six weeks and then after returning to training he twisted his knee and damaged his ligaments. “The doctor told me it would be alright if I played against France but I wasn’t 100% and in international football you must be 100% so I decided against it. I expect to be fit in about a week’s time and hopefully I will be able to play against Germany.”