What happened tonight.....
"What happened tonight?", was the thought that entered my mind and I am sure the minds of all South African supporters who watched the match. The fact of the matter is, if you think about it and you do not have to be a football buff to see it, we were outplayed. We were completely dominated by a team that came with a plan, something we seemed to have lacked, and by a player, Forlan, who seemed to have orchestrated our defeat.
I think, that while it may look that way, it certainly is not. The team played the exact game that they played when we played Mexico and because of this we were easily dominated by the team that could exploit the weakness in our game plan. Was the money we spent on the coach, in the hope that we could build a world class team, an exercise in futility? Or did we just learn a very expensive lesson?
My opinion is that we learned a very expensive lesson and it is not whether or not the coach is competent. He has the credentials that prove he is competent and the fact that the South African team has come so far is further proof of his competency. So where does the problem lie if it is not with the coach?
I believe that the problem lies largely in the state of football in SA. To put it in perspective, we have have had 12 years to build a World Cup team and we have failed. In 12 years we have not promoted football like we should have, nor have we established any schools of excellence to further the skills of our football talent. We have failed the footballers and as such have failed the nation.
So, if there is anybody that we have to sack, it is SAFA. They have failed the footballers and SA as a whole. The employment of the coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, was a last ditch effort for SAFA to redeem itself and thus the very high price paid. I do not blame the coach for asking such a high fee, he must know in the back of his mind that should the team not produce the results, that he will bear the brunt of the teams failure in the field.
So to our boys, who played there hearts out I salute you! To the fans who walked out of the stadium before the match was over I say shame on you! And to the officials who, through their incompetence, engineered the failure of the team I say out with you!
It is thus imperative, in the interest of football and footballers in South Africa, that we as a nation stand up as one and demand that SAFA step up to the plate and start building a team for the next FIFA World Cup in 2014. And while we at it, let us take up all the other issues that we are not happy about :-)
I think, that while it may look that way, it certainly is not. The team played the exact game that they played when we played Mexico and because of this we were easily dominated by the team that could exploit the weakness in our game plan. Was the money we spent on the coach, in the hope that we could build a world class team, an exercise in futility? Or did we just learn a very expensive lesson?
My opinion is that we learned a very expensive lesson and it is not whether or not the coach is competent. He has the credentials that prove he is competent and the fact that the South African team has come so far is further proof of his competency. So where does the problem lie if it is not with the coach?
I believe that the problem lies largely in the state of football in SA. To put it in perspective, we have have had 12 years to build a World Cup team and we have failed. In 12 years we have not promoted football like we should have, nor have we established any schools of excellence to further the skills of our football talent. We have failed the footballers and as such have failed the nation.
So, if there is anybody that we have to sack, it is SAFA. They have failed the footballers and SA as a whole. The employment of the coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, was a last ditch effort for SAFA to redeem itself and thus the very high price paid. I do not blame the coach for asking such a high fee, he must know in the back of his mind that should the team not produce the results, that he will bear the brunt of the teams failure in the field.
So to our boys, who played there hearts out I salute you! To the fans who walked out of the stadium before the match was over I say shame on you! And to the officials who, through their incompetence, engineered the failure of the team I say out with you!
It is thus imperative, in the interest of football and footballers in South Africa, that we as a nation stand up as one and demand that SAFA step up to the plate and start building a team for the next FIFA World Cup in 2014. And while we at it, let us take up all the other issues that we are not happy about :-)
Besides a very blind ref. Our team seemed not to be in the game from the start, at times it looked at though we didn't even know where the goal posts were.
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