Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
A year that began disappointingly for Bafana Bafana with a Castle Cup defeat in Namibia ended triumphantly with victory over African champions Egypt in the Nelson Mandela Inauguration Challenge at FNB Stadium.
The scoreline read 2-1 and it could have been 5-1 as Benni McCarthy fluffed a good chance, Thabo Mngomeni had a shot superbly saved and Medhat Abdel Hadi struck the woodwork when attempting to clear a cross.
Coach Trott Moloto, officially in charge of the national team for the first time after working with Jomo Sono and fiery Frenchman Philippe Troussier, can walk tall over the festive season.
Given the unavoidable crazy preparations – four members of the “Foreign Legion” arrived the day before the match – Bafana Bafana performed well as a team and created far more chances than against Angola in October.
Moloto has also shown a spirit of adventure and a faith in youth that was lacking among some of his predecessors. Some experiments will backfire, but his goal of creating a deep pool of talent deserves encouragement.
The choices of Papi Khomane of Orlando Pirates – the only new cap – and Mngomeni of Bush Bucks were surprising, with many observers believing Themba Mnguni and Delron Buckley might have made the starting line-up.
Khomane not only did well in a defence that permitted the Pharaohs few real chances, he was voted man of the match. Congratulations Khomane – that is what one calls a dream debut, eh?
Fears that club playmakers Mngomeni and John Moeti would occupy the same terrain and trip over each other proved unfounded and it took a superb reflex save from Nader al-Sayed to push away a Mngomeni volley.
Critics of John Moeti, who led Bafana Bafana in the absence of unavaibable Lucas Radebe, must be suffering from severe indigestion this weekend as they swallow huge chunks of humble pie.
Normally, this member of the Muchineripi clan has the greatest sympathy and respect for my brothers and sisters in the Fourth Estate, but why dismiss one of the great competitors in our football without giving him a chance?
Yes, “Dungi” has been naughty lately with his over-the-top tackle on Pollen Ndlanya in the Rothmans Cup. Yes, he has been slow to regain top form following a serious pre-World Cup injury.
However, anyone fortunate to be at Milpark Stadium last Saturday for the Wits University vs Pirates Castle Premiership match would have left the ground content that John had regained his appetite and was ready.
To borrow from the Ruud Gullit lexicon, Moeti is not a “sexy” footballer. Slight of build with a head often bent, he is one of those footballers probably responsible for that well-worn clich about “covering every blade of grass”.
Each coach has his favourites and Moloto clearly likes Joel “Fire” Masilela from Sundowns, who usually starts with him on the bench. It would not be the first time that a footballer was good enough for his country, but not his club.
Football-speak would label Masilela a wingback, but he is actually a good old-fashioned right winger who loves to take opponents on, and his cross led to the first goal.
Were Masilela to realise that you do not always have to beat an opponent first, the quality of his crossing could improve considerably. That said, he provided an unpredictability the Egyptians generally lacked.
On the other flank, Bradley Carnell did his usual neat job before being substituted in the second half. Like Masilela, Carnell needs to work on his crosses, many of which were overhit.
A bigger problem with Carnell, and an issue that occupied my mind most as our taxi cruised along the N1 to Pretoria on Wednesday evening, was his battle to compete with the Pharaohs in the physical exchanges.
Should you possess a video recording of the match, play it this weekend and freeze the action each time there is a close-quarters clash. My guess is Egypt won about 70% if them.
How ironic then that the SABC soccer show Laduma should claim two-goal hero Benni McCarthy was “overweight” when his upper-body strength was directly responsible for the first-half equaliser.
Benni held off a stronger Egyptian defender before slotting the ball wide of Al-Sayed for an equaliser that arrived just six minutes after Hossam Hassan had put the visitors ahead with a superb exhibition of clinical finishing.
Upper-body strength has been identified before as a weak link in the Bafana Bafana chain, and it needs to be addressed if we are to compete favourably with the North and West Africans.
That said, a low-key Bafana Bafana revolution is well under way with only two regular “Barker Boys” of 12 months ago – Mark Fish and a somewhat subdued Philemon Masinga – in the starting line-up.
McCarthy was also somewhat subdued until the 73rd minute when he rose magnificently to head home a Quinton Fortune free kick, while the best goalkeeper in Africa resembled a statue.