Seldom has a friendly international meant so much to 2010 Soccer World Cup hosts South Africa as that against Paraguay on Wednesday. Underperforming Bafana Bafana need a win to silence a growing band of critics, led by Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, Parliament sports committee chairperson Butana Komphela and several top first-division coaches.
Soccer players selected for the national team should be directly contracted by the South African Football Association, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Thursday. This would allow coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to work full-time for two years in preparing a winning team for 2010.
A pedestrian Bafana Bafana outfit needed an own goal to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in a friendly international match at the Germiston Stadium on Tuesday evening. Gilbert Mushangazhike struck first for the visitors in the 12th minute. Sthembiso Ngcobo equalised in the 73rd minute and his feeble shot at goal deflected off James Matola late in extra time to give the hosts an unforeseen victory.
”Yo-yo man” Benni McCarthy is back in the Bafana Bafana squad to play Paraguay on March 26 — strengthening the suspicion that the enigmatic striker requested coach Carlos Albero Parreira not to include him in the squad for the recent African Nations Cup tournament in Ghana.
Struggling Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Bloemfontein Celtic said on Monday that they had fired coach Khabo Zondo. Zondo, who also assists national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, was axed a day after mid-table Celtic conceded three late goals to lose 3-1 at Moroka Swallows.
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/ 8 February 2008
Although his new side failed to make it past round one at the Africa Cup of Nations, Carlos Alberto Parreira won’t be entirely depressed. Bafana’s performance at the tournament in Egypt in 2006 was marked by a medley of administrative foibles, disruptive player mutinies, pre-tournament shenanigans and sepulchral lethargy that showed on the field when they failed to score.
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/ 3 February 2008
He conceded that it left a lump in the throat that they were back in South Africa at this early juncture of the Africa Cup of Nations, but worldly Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said it was heartening and encouraging that many positives had emerged in spite of South Africa’s opening-round elimination.
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/ 1 February 2008
The 2004 champions Tunisia and Angola sealed the last two quarterfinal places at the African Nations Cup on Thursday. The pair fought out a goalless draw in Tamale to head Group D which earned Tunisia, table toppers on goal difference, a quarterfinal tie with four time winners Cameroon on Monday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Senegal and South Africa were eliminated from the African Nations Cup after a 1-1 draw in their last Group D match in Kumasi on Thursday. Both teams needed a win to revive slim hopes of reaching the last eight but finished behind Tunisia and Angola in the standings.
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/ 30 January 2008
The final countdown has started for Bafana Bafana as they take on Senegal in the last first-round fixture of the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana on Thursday night with only a soccer miracle seemingly able to earn them a place in the quarterfinals. Senegal, meanwhile, are in the same precarious position as South Africa.
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/ 28 January 2008
South Africa’s Africa Cup of Nations fate is out of their hands after Sunday’s crushing 3-1 loss to Tunisia, prompting coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to look to the future. South Africa came to Ghana intent on showing the world and their continental neighbours they could put up a stout showing when the World Cup comes to town in 2010.
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/ 28 January 2008
After watching Bafana Bafana lose 3-1 to Tunisia in the Africa Cup of Nations group stage game on Sunday night, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund says certain players are not being used in their best positions. ”I believe that a team has to be built around the strengths of its players,” he said.
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/ 26 January 2008
There is unlikely to be a place in the starting line-up for South Africa hero Elrio van Heerden when they tackle Tunisia in the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday. Van Heerden, who plays for Belgian club Bruges, came off the bench three days ago to score one of the best goals in the biennial tournament.
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/ 26 January 2008
Angola are hopeful of upsetting favourites Senegal when they meet in their African Nations Cup Group D match on Sunday. South Africa face Tunisia in the other half of a double bill at the Tamale Sports Stadium where all four teams have one point from their opening match.
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/ 23 January 2008
Elrio van Heerden scored two minutes from full-time to salvage a 1-1 draw for South Africa against Angola on Wednesday in another 2008 African Nations Cup Group D thriller. No team arrived in Ghana more desperate to impress than South Africa after descending from champs to chumps in a 12-year freefall.
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/ 22 January 2008
Thousands of kilometres separate Tamale Stadium in northern Ghana from Old Trafford in England. But as Angola striker Mateus ”Manucho” Goncalves prepares for an Africa Cup of Nations Group D first-round showdown with South Africa on Wednesday, Manchester United will inevitably be on his mind.
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/ 18 January 2008
Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s tinkering in the two warm-up matches before the team leaves on Saturday for the African Cup of Nations in Ghana has raised eyebrows. How will captain Aaron Mokoena cope with his shift in position from central defence into a holding midfield role once the opposition become more serious about attacking Bafana?
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/ 15 January 2008
With all the tension and trauma surrounding Bafana Bafana’s forthcoming test of strength in the African Cup of Nations, the man in the middle of the cauldron of emotions displayed his usual cool and composed demeanour on Tuesday. And Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira believes his Bafana squad are on course for their acid test in Ghana.
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/ 14 January 2008
Bafana Bafana earned a pass mark from their 2-0 warm-up win against Mozambique at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday afternoon and demonstrated sufficient potential to view the coming African Cup of Nations with a degree of optimism.
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/ 11 January 2008
South Africa head for Ghana desperate to arrest a slide in African Nations Cup fortunes. Since that amazing day in February 1996 when Nelson Mandela presented the trophy to Neil Tovey, Bafana Bafana have performed worse at each subsequent edition. A second-place finish behind Egypt in the next edition of the biennial tournament was followed by third place in 2000.
The belated, but soothing pronouncement from Bafana Bafana administrative manager Sipho Nkumane on Tuesday night that ”all the players are now in camp” must have sounded like music to the ears of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. The last three players to arrive were Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar, Maccabi Haifa fullback Tsepo Masilela and Bloemfontein Celtic’s Tumelo Nhlapo.
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/ 9 December 2007
Like King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold, James Chamanga turned everything he touched into goals during Moroka Swallows’ emphatic 6-2 Premier League victory over a hapless Platinum Stars at the Germiston Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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/ 6 December 2007
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has hit back at suggestions that the Premiership club played a part in Benni McCarthy’s surprise omission from South Africa’s squad for next month’s African Cup of Nations. McCarthy (30) had looked set to be a certainty in Carlos Alberto Parreira’s plans for the tournament, which starts in Ghana on January 20.
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/ 30 November 2007
South Africa have ditched star striker Benni McCarthy for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana. Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira also dumped first-choice defender Bradley Carnell and midfielders Delron Buckley and Macbeth Sibaya from a 23-man squad named on Friday.
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/ 28 November 2007
A makeshift Bafana Bafana side put five goals past a hapless Lesotho in a one-sided training match at the Germiston Stadium on Tuesday evening. Ajax Cape Town striker Thembinkosi Fanteni led the way with a brace, while Orlando Pirates’ Lebohang Mokoena, Santos’ Thando Mngomeni and SuperSport United’s Katlego Mphela netted a goal each.
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/ 23 November 2007
Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has been hoarding candidates for the South African squad to participate in the African Nations Cup in Ghana early in the new year. On Friday, he added to his not inconsiderable collection when he introduced a host of new names in the squad to play Lesotho on Tuesday night.
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/ 22 November 2007
Fifa president Sepp Blatter arrived in Durban on Thursday amid tight security. His arrival ahead of the 2010 preliminary draw came on the same day that 2010 South African local organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan unveiled the 2009 Confederations Cup emblem at Durban’s International Convention Centre.
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/ 19 November 2007
After a humbling defeat against the United States, Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira will be taking a squad devoid of overseas-based players into Tuesday night’s friendly match at Durban’s King’s Park. It is a decision in contrast to that of the Canadians who have included 17 European-based players in their squad.
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/ 18 November 2007
It has been said that Bafana Bafana is a sleeping giant — and, on the evidence of the 1-0 defeat against a disciplined, determined United States line-up in the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge game at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon, the sleeping giant is still sleeping.
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/ 7 November 2007
Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has called for common sense to prevail in the quest to build a winning team for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Brazilian named two squads for games against the United States and Canada — but due to the Premier Soccer League schedule, the local players he selected will arrive late for training.
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/ 6 November 2007
The first Soccer World Cup to be held in Africa can be the glue which binds a continent too often riven by conflict, according to the man in charge of organising the world’s most popular sporting event. Danny Jordaan said the 2010 tournament was a perfect opportunity to showcase Africa and banish negative stereotypes.
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/ 18 October 2007
In the land renowned for its scrumptious pizza and ravioli, Bafana Bafana were forced to eat humble pie in Siena on Wednesday night while losing 2-0 to what was
effectively the Italian B team. While the two headed goals from 32-year-old Ukraine-based Cristiano Lucarelli were a long time in coming, the scoreline, if anything, flattered South Africa.