Berti Vogts, Germany’s former coach now in charge of the Nigerian Super Eagles, once said that his enemies were so bent on criticising him, regardless of how his team performed, that if he walked on water they would probably accuse him of being unable to swim.
Such is the life of a coach of a national sports team. You are perennially damned.
So, when some critics moaned that Bafana could have done better than a 3-0 win over minnows Chad, Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira would probably have felt that he had heard that one before.
And, judging by his previous utterances, such as his take on Brazil beating Ghana at last year’s World Cup — ”history doesn’t talk about the beautiful game, it talks about champions. Why do we have to play beautiful football when others don’t?” — it is clear that Parreira is from the pragmatist school of football, rather than Pele’s ”beautiful game” persuasion.
The argument was that given Chad are ranked 135 — 75 places behind Bafana Bafana — and that their players appear to have been taken from school teams, South Africa, as former African champions, ought to have been more vicious and a delight to watch. The detractors could not be bothered that the pitch was so bumpy that, had it not been for the lines, it could easily have qualified as a hiking trail.
Considering that in victory the national football team scored more goals in a meaningful game (as opposed to friendly international) than they did in the entire 2006 football calendar, you appreciate the sense of optimism in the sport since the Brazilian took charge.
You can also understand the feeling of being duped after the 1-0 reverse against Bolivia, a side 51 places behind Bafana in the world rankings.
Parreira’s evangelical mission to restore hope among the football faithful moved to Ellis Park. Cajole and encourage as he did all night, the miracle — beating a South American team — was to be deferred for another day.
In the end, it proved to be a humiliating defeat for Bafana. Ranked bottom in South America and 101st in the world, Bolivia sent a team short of experience and firepower to South Africa.
The team was minus some of their better players who are plying their trade outside their country because of a club-versus-country debacle. These include Juan Carlos Arce (Corinthians-Brazil) and Jaime Moreno (DC United USA) who, according to reports from Bolivia, were only prepared to play in the Copa America match against Venezuela.
Goalkeeper Pedro Higa, defender Limbert Méndez, Jaime Cradozo, Jhasmany Campos, Jorge Ortiz and Gustavo Pinedo had never played for their national team.
Juan Manuel Peña (Villarreal) was Bolivia’s most experienced emissary, with 76 performances before he came to Ellis Park.
Parreira, denounced in his home country for his penchant for pragmatism, will probably score the Ellis Park encounter as a victory of organisation over flair. The South Americans spent the entire night either kicking Steven Pienaar or keeping their lines with regimented discipline. It was the same attitude that had won him the Chad game.
One suspects therefore that Parreira will think his neighbours made the point that he had been trying to make all along. Modern football is first and foremost about organisation. If you have flair, that too would be nice.