It will have been heartening for South African fans to see the recent performances of the national Under-23 team, Amaglug-glug. They have produced a few gems who could be real contenders for a place in the senior side come the 2010 World Cup.
Firstly, let me say I don’t read too much into the recent Bafana Bafana defeat against Bolivia. I actually thought we played quite well and created enough chances to have won the game comfortably. Were it not for the fact that most of the overseas players had to leave the ground at half-time to catch their flights back to Europe for an important round of club fixtures, I am convinced we would have got a result.
I like coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s assessment that between now and 2010 we need to be playing top teams on a regular basis and not be afraid to lose these matches, because that is a sure way to develop the side.
Playing minnows might be a good way for a coach to improve his win-loss ratio, but it is only by plying the best in the world that you can gauge progress among the players and expose them to the kind of competition they will face in the World Cup.
The Brazilian would have been watching the recent Amaglug-glug matches with interest as they defeated a spirited Uganda over two legs to reach the highly competitive group stages of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. They have half the job done in defeating Botswana 2-0 in the first leg of their All-Africa Games qualifier on Sunday, with the return leg due for Gaborone the weekend after next.
Not the toughest teams in the world, admittedly, but it is the professional and clinical manner in which the squad prepared and exacted their plans that will please Parreira.
A lot of the credit must go to coach Steve Komphela, who, over the past few years, has identified the players he thinks can do a good job and largely kept that group together. The benefits of his continuity are now bearing fruit.
But when he was forced into changes for the Qatar International Friendship Games in January by Premier Soccer League clubs not releasing their players because of their hectic league schedules, he expanded his selection.
Despite fielding a deleted side, the team finished a very respectable third and Komphela now has a squad of 30 or so players who he knows can cut it at international level. That bodes well for the development of the national game.
The players who were involved with the last South African side to make it to the Olympic Games, in Sydney in 2000, have all said it was a boost to their fledgling careers to play in such a big international tournament.
The likes of Benni McCarthy, Quinton Fortune, Delron Buckley, Aaron Mokoena and Siyabonga Nomvete have all gone on to forge successful club careers, and have all played more than 50 times for Bafana Bafana.
That side beat a Brazilian team who included a young Ronaldinho 3-1 and seemed set for the knockout stages before disaster struck against Slovakia in their final game and they bowed out.
It is hoped that if we reach the 2008 Games, the experience gained could launch another five or six careers for players within the group, just in time for them to be an effective part of our 2010 campaign.
Safa watch
When will it end? The latest South African Football Association (Safa) gaff has been at the personal cost of Supersport United youngster Kermit Erasmus (no, he is not named after the frog, but rather after jazz musician Kermit Ruffins).
The highly rated Under-17 international was set to go on trial this week to English Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur, but had to cancel because Safa managed to lose his passport following the recent African Youth Championships in Togo.
Players learn at a young age, it seems, the pitfalls of the mother body …