Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
South African soccer is once again hanging its dirty washing out in public as Bafana Bafana prepare to play Jamaica on Sunday in the final match of a whirlwind Caribbean tour.
The problem revolves around the old club- versus-country issue. However, instead of the national association fighting for the release of some overseas player, it has come under fire from forces much closer to home this time.
Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns are locked in a struggle for the Castle Premiership and Sundowns have an African Champions League match against Saint-Louisienne in Reunion next weekend.
Several weeks ago the South African Football Association (Safa) and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) agreed that the Premiership programme would not be disrupted by the Calypso tour.
Chiefs and Sundowns were assured that none of their players would be called up for a visit that is more about wooing those who can help us win the 2006 World Cup bid than anything else.
It was common knowledge that the vast majority of the overseas-based professionals would not be available due to club commitments and national coach Trott Moloto would choose an experimental team.
But the morning after South Africa gained a creditable draw in Denmark last week, Moloto fanned the flames of fury by including five players from Sundowns and four from Chiefs.
A red flag had been shown to the bulls and it did not take long for a war of words to erupt, with Sundowns coach Ted Dumitru and managing director Natasia Tsichlas the first to explode. “We are on top form at the moment and this long break is obviously going to make us lose our sharpness. What has happened convinces me that our national administrators are very amateurish,” said Dumitru.
The Iron Lady was more blunt, saying “she was not going to tolerate this nonsense from Safa”. The PSL also came under fire for “chopping and changing fixtures”.
Chiefs managing director Kaizer Motaung, ironically the leader of the Safa delegation to the Caribbean, was equally upset, accusing the national body of downgrading the value of the national championship.
Former star Jomo Sono, a neutral figure who often makes the most sense when the air turns blue, believes Moloto should have taken a leaf out of the book of England coach Kevin Keegan.
Faced with a low-profile friendly against Hungary last week, Keegan asked managers Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal to nominate which players they would release.
Safa defended its action through general manager Zola Dunywa, who said the issue of the Chiefs and Sundowns players had been discussed with the PSL before the squad was named.
The view of this humble member of the Muchineripi clan was that the man who needs to answer a few questions – Moloto – somehow evaded the media spotlight.
Was it necessary, Bra Trott, to select players from Chiefs and Sundowns given that they are locked in battle for the richest championship prize on the continent?
Why, Bra Trott, could you not have picked one player from each of the 18 Premiership clubs and added available “exiles” Alfred Phiri from Turkish club Genclerbirligi and McDonald Mukansi from Cypriot team Paralimni?
Regarding Chiefs and Sundowns, I would have urged the coach to do a “Keegan” and ask coaches Paul Dolezar and Ted Dumitru to nominate a player from their squads.
Sundowns defender Michael Manzini is suspended from domestic action so he was an obvious choice, and why not Thabang Lebese from Chiefs – a much better footballer than many who have worn national colours?
While our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean were upset that big names like Lucas Radebe and Phil Masinga could not travel, they should realise that the talent pool in South Africa runs deep.
Papi Mbele of relegation-bound Vaal Professionals is not the only unknown worth testing. What about lightning-fast Wits University striker Gary McNab, for example.
I conclude by expressing my disappointment that Trott did not lived up to his promise of casting the net as wide as possible and giving stars from unfashionable clubs like QwaQwa Stars a chance.
A great opportunity has been lost. The image of soccer has taken another blow and you can be certain that World Cup bid rivals England and Germany will have collected every newspaper cutting relating to the issue. Surely we can do better than this.