/ 14 June 2002

Boys to men

At the end of the World Cup, South Africa will complete a decade of playing international football since readmission into the international sporting fold. It has been a decade in which the country has touched the sky and bitten the dust, one in which the team showed promise and remains capable of so much more.

The 10 games that South Africa has played against World Cup winners characterise a period during which Bafana Bafana have oscillated between playing like world beaters and then trudging like they have sand in their lungs and lead in their feet. Thankfully, as they showed in this World Cup, they have a knack for hitting highs at the right time.

On July 7 1992, sensing the imminent arrival of a democratic order, the Confederation of African Foot-ball and Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) accepted South Africa as a member. This paved the way for a hastily organised tour by Cameroon, the team that only two years earlier had done the continent proud at the World Cup in Italy.

It is history now that the best player of his generation, Doctor Khumalo, scored the country’s first international goal to secure victory. The tour ended in a tie, after Cameroon won the next game before the last was a 2-2 draw.

After this South Africa went through a painful learning curve, brought to earth with a thud after failing to qualify for both the 1994 African Nations Cup and World Cup. A period of instability with coaches making way for each other in rather quick succession for reasons unrelated to football did not inspire confidence.

Jeff Butler had to vacate his seat, his achievements with Kaizer Chiefs notwithstanding, before the Cameroon tour. His successor Stanley Tshabalala was dismissed for assaulting journalist Sy Lerman. His stand-in and current under-23 coach, Shakes Mashaba, brought the country its first victory in a competitive game, a 1-0 win over Congo in a World Cup qualifier via a headed goal by Philemon Masinga.

Augusto Palacios was the first coach to bring stability and direction to South Africa’s play, with a 0-0 draw against Nigeria and victories over Botswana, Mauritius and Congo again cementing confidence. When Palacios left abruptly to pursue an unsuccessful club-coaching career he had laid the foundation for the stocky tactician Clive Barker.

For a start, Palacios first fielded the heart of what proved to be the foundation of Barker’s success — the midfield combination of Doctor Khumalo and Shoes Moshoeu, with the start of Moshoeu’s international career delayed by injury. More importantly, the belief that victory can be achieved through careful planning and hard work was engendered during Palacios’s reign.

Barker took time to find his feet, taking in defeats by the likes of Australia and a 4-0 drubbing by Mexico in the process. When the team hit its victorious stride, Kenya pulled out as hosts of the 1996 African Cup Nations, the honour was conferred to South Africa. Barker expressed disappointment that he did not get to play the qualifiers. Confidence was sky high, and with good reason.

The 1996 African Nations Cup finally opened amid high expectations. Nerves were calmed when the opener between the hosts and Cameroon became a memorable 3-0 victory for South Africa, the highlight being South Africa’s second goal; it’s 38th since readmission. Moshoeu combined in a quick and blinding skilful interchange with Philemon Masinga for Moshoeu to slot in what ranks as among the finest in South Africa’s international tenure.

In many people’s minds, and on paper, South Africa’s finest hour in international football was on February 3 1996 when the country won the African Cup of Nations against Tunisia. But something more magical had happened three nights earlier.

In the semifinal against four-times continental champions Ghana, the sense of expectation was palpable. It was a night game and South Africa turned off the floodlights and wiped the floor with Ghana. When the lights came back on the Black Stars were mere coals, burnt beyond recognition in 3-0 side sweep, with two goals from Mosheu and a display of instinct from Shaun Bartlett. When Moshoeu popped up in the dying minutes to latch on to a Khumalo pass and make it game, set, match South Africa, the sense that Barker’s men were continental champions in waiting was overwhelming. They duly accomplished the feat against Tunisia and earned themselves the nickname Bafana Bafana.

In retrospect, we can now say that in Ghana, we were meeting a giant on the wane. In four meetings since readmission, Ghana have never managed to beat Bafana, the last of the four occasions coming in Ghana’s backyard in the 2000 Nations Cup, where South Africa knocked them out at the quarterfinals.

Barker grew to be a victim of his own success, getting swamped by the expectations he helped create and persisting with the core of the team that brought the country glory — players who, in the eyes of the public, were not justified for selection. He finally succumbed to unrelenting pressure by resigning in December 1997, having accomplished the two goals he had set out to do at his appointment: winning the Nations Cup and qualifying for the 1998 World Cup.

When Jomo Sono temporarily took charge for the 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso, the casualties of his revolution included Neil Tovey and Doctor Khumalo and his revelation was Benni McCarthy. McCarthy’s seven goals ensured passage to the finals against Egypt.

The route to the final included an energy-sapping semi against the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the 2-1 victory was sealed with a rare but precious goal from David Nyathi. In the final, when the Pharaohs hammered two quick goals, Bafana had no resources or desire to respond; safe in the knowledge that reaching the final after losing a coach would suffice.

After that Philippe Troussier, who had signed a contract after Barker but was still committed to Burkina Faso for the Nations Cup, commenced a stint he would rather forget and had three months to prepare the squad for the World Cup in France. The campaign proved disastrous and Bafana returned without a win.

One of the defining features about the decade has been the South African Football Association’s (Safa) ability to steal the show for both the wrong and right reasons. In many ways you cannot blame Safa: it takes its cue from the top. Its mother body, Fifa, is hardly a sterling example of clean administration.

Safa was formed as a result of a merger of the Football Association of South Africa, the South African Soccer Association, the South African Soccer Federation and the South African National Football Association. The first powerful figure was its general secretary Solomon ”Stix” Morewa, who became its face and voice.

Indications that Morewa had accumulated too much power started to surface when he was appointed the president but did not give up the spokesperson’s role, in very much the same way that Sepp Blatter retained his speaking duties after succeeding Joao Havelange as president of Fifa. Morewa ultimately fell from grace when the Pickard commission found he was involved in corruption and was forced to resign.

The administration has also struggled to adapt to the reality of a developing country that frequently has to lose its best players to Europe’s rich leagues. The ongoing struggle to balance players needs to play for their club and represent their country has seen players like McCarthy and Mark Fish threaten to quit the national team.

The administrators’ finest achievement was putting together an impressive 2006 World Cup bid. It confounded skeptics at every turn and pushed Morocco, Brazil, England and Germany to the very last round of voting on July 6 2000 in Zurich, where the Germans won by one vote and their greatest player, Franz Beckenbauer, twisted the knife by thanking Fifa in German.

The last big administrative bungle of recent times was the appointment of Trott Moloto as national coach in October 1998. After Troussier’s departure Safa pandered to political expediency by listening to voices that myopically called for a black local coach and looking at the relative weakness of the 2000 Nations Cup qualifying group, gave the job to Moloto.

Under Moloto, Bafana degenerated into an amorphous, unrecognisable outfit, playing football bereft of creative inspiration and without any hope, let alone will, to win. They drew games they should have won and scraped through contests they should have walked over. Moloto was finally exposed when Bafana met Nigeria in the 2000 Nations Cup and saw errors punished with pace to lose 2-0.

In June 2000 Carlos Quieroz succeeded Moloto to start a period that generated heat without the fireworks. Moloto’s retention is nothing more than the administration’s refusal to accept fault. The degree of improvement was marginal, merely enough to qualify for the Mali edition of the Nations Cup earlier this year, and the World Cup. The country’s worst performance in the Nations Cup, a quarterfinal exit to hosts Mali precipitated his departure.

The 10 years of Bafana have produced heroes and broken hearts. The current goalkeeper, Andre Arendse, received 31 call-ups before making his debut as a half-time substitute in a 2-2 draw against Zambia in 1995. He lost his berth to Hans Vonk in the 1998 World Cup and, until recently, the Holland-based goal-minder marginally edged him out. He has fought back gallantly to retain pole position. Yet with each success story there has been a handful of heartbreaking failures. Sundowns left back Lovers Mohlala was the first player to represent South Africa at all levels of international football and was destined for great things. Injury and fluctuating form have limited his contribution to the fringe, and when he got a chance to stake his claim for this World Cup, his ankle interfered cruelly. The list of tortured souls includes the likes of Jacob Tshisevhe and Dumisa Ngobe, who made sterling debuts in 1996 but have disappeared into obscurity, and John Tlale, the Sundowns goalkeeper, who has seen limited meaningful action and must now surely consider quitting international football.

But one player who best captures the dream of donning a Bafana Bafana shirt is captain Lucas Radebe. The sole survivor of July 7 1992, Radebe is now the country’s most capped player with 69 caps. From the amateur ranks in the old Bophutatswana soccer league to South African giants Kaizer Chiefs and on to Elland Road with Leeds United, Radebe has used the available time between serious injuries to live his dream. In 1996 he came back from 11 months of injury to find a place on Barker’s bench for the Nations Cup. He timed his return to perfection, making his first appearance against Ghana specifically to attend to and subdue his then Leeds team-mate, Tony Yeboah. Ahead of this World Cup he hardly played for his club in the English Premiership, making his late season appearances for the reserves.

It took Sono’s faith to gamble on him. He has repaid that with solid performances. Against Paraguay he struggled to contain Roque Santa Cruz and gave the lanky striker to Aaron Mokoena. Then in the historic victory last Saturday he dominated with brilliant anticipation and defence command, rarely having to do much, but excelling when the occasion demanded. On Wednesday he scored his first international goal to keep the contest against Spain alive before withdrawing after a knock. He can retire in grace.

Many South Africans long to see Bafana Bafana play with what they consider flair. The trouble is that they see flair as a luxury to be employed when victory is secured and not as the means to secure victory. The kind of play they clamour for has, over the decade, been displayed by the likes of Khumalo and, in recent times, Jabu Pule, Steve Lekoelea and Sibusiso Zuma (the most constructive of the three).

Having established himself under Quieroz, Zuma is now a force on the right of midfield. His swift turn and gallivanting slalom to create McCarthy’s first goal against Turkey in Hong Kong recently showed his ability to make flair constructive, and his work rate and willingness to do the unglamorous job of defending gives him an extra dimension.

Yet flair can be collective. At the height of their prowess under Barker, Bafana played with impressive fluidity. Nowhere was this more emphasised than at the 1996 Four Nations Cup, where Bafana outclassed Australia and gave Barker overdue revenge for giving him his harsh introduction to international football.

South Africa’s football, and that of Africa, has improved largely due to a proliferation of players plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues. The past decade has shown that South African players can hold their own in leagues such as Switzerland, Denmark and Turkey, which has attracted the most South Africans and where Moshoeu continues to star. The next decade should be about reaching the next tier. That is setting alight those European leagues that constantly produce quarterfinalists in the Champion’s league: Spain, England, Germany and Italy.

Encouragingly, the process has started. With discipline at the back, guile and tenacity in midfield, verve and spark upfront, let this not be a World Cup of crowning a decade of learning and toil. Rather let it mark the foundation of a decade at whose end in the 2010 World Cup, hopefully on African soil, South Africa will be regarded as realistic contenders of what many, many nations can only dream of.