African Nations Cup: uphill for SA
Zolile Mtshelwane
24 November 2003
South Africa's national soccer squad, Bafana Bafana, will face a tough task getting through to the knockout stages of the 24th African Cup of Nations taking place in Tunisia from 24 January to 14 February 2004.
For Bafana Bafana to reach the quarterfinals, they will probably have to register at least two wins. Benin are considered minnows, and Bafana should overcome them. Their other win, however, will have to be against Nigeria or Morocco, and either way this looks set to be an uphill battle.
Bafana Bafana start their campaign against Benin at Sfax Stadium on 27 January. They then play Nigeria at Monastir Stadium on 31 January before ending the group stage against Morocco at Sousse Stadium on 4 February.
Bafana played two friendly away matches against Egypt and Tunisia within a period of four days in November in preparation for the Cup. They lost both games, going down 2-1 to Egypt and suffering a 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Tunisia.
Team needs cohesion
Bafana will have to show character and commitment if they are to get past the group stages of the continent's premier football event. Sadly, the team showed neither of these attributes in the two warm-up friendlies.
The team lacked cohesion, and seemed to have no plan for the games. The midfield failed to ignite, their play characterised by erratic passing. Although the defence displayed some tactical awareness, indecisiveness and lack of communication are still a cause for concern. This, and a momentary lapse in concentration, gifted Egypt the winning goal in referee's optional time.
The strikers, due to the lack of a forceful midfield creating openings up front, were starved of chances to shoot for goal.
It can be argued that all these weaknesses are the result of a squad that hardly plays together. In most cases, the national team comes together less than two weeks before a scheduled game or
tournament.
Not surprisingly, the players end up playing for themselves, not as a team, and while they display bursts of individual brilliance, these are seldom enough to trouble decent opposition.
The proper organisation of the national team needs urgent attention. In the run-up to selecting the squad, the availability of some or other overseas-based player is always an issue. In most cases, those who do eventually fly in, do so two or three days before match day.
The SA Football Association needs to put mechanisms in place to allow the national squad to assemble timeously enough for the coach to mould them into a cohesive, organised unit.
Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, on announcing the the 22-man squad for the two friendlies, said the final team would be selected some time in December, a few weeks before the tournament kicks off.
What this means is that, having returned from a disastrous excursion into North Africa, the squad members have again
dispersed to their respective clubs. After Mashaba announces his final squad in December, the chances of them playing more than one friendly game before the tournament starts are slim, given the Christmas recess plus various domestic and international league fixtures.
A worrying situation for South African soccer fans, and for coach Mashaba, who may have to rely on Bafana Bafana's determination and courage in the face of better prepared and organised opposition. Whether that will be enough to see Bafana challenging for the top spot in the tournament, or finishing in a respectable position, remains to be seen.
SA soccer fans, however, do not give up hope easily - they still remember Johannesburg 1996.
SA's African Cup of Nations history
Bafana Bafana first qualified for the African Nations Cup in 1996, following South Africa's readmission to international soccer in 1992, and has qualified for all the subsequent tournaments: Burkina
Faso 1998 (won by Egypt), Ghana-Nigeria 2000 (won by Cameroon), Mali 2002 (won by Cameroon again), and Tunisia 2004.
Bafana's debut in the 1996 tournament, which South Africa hosted, was inspired.
Under coach Clive Barker, Bafana beat Cameroon 3-0, Angola 1-0 and Algeria 2-1 to reach the semifinals, where they faced Ghana, one of the continent's soccer powerhouses.
In one of the most pulsating games ever played at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium, Bafana humiliated the Ghanaians 3-0 to advance to the finals, where they beat Tunisia 2-0 to lift the Cup.
In each successive African Nations Cup, however, South Africa have fared worse and worse ...
In Burkina Faso in 1998, Bafana narrowly failed to defend their crown, losing to Egypt - the only country to beat them in the group stages in 1996 - in the finals. In 2000, when the tournament was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, Bafana finished third, beating Tunisia in the third place play-off.
In 2002, Bafana
returned home even earlier after they were booted out by hosts Mali in the quarterfinals.
This year, Mashaba and "The Boys" will be looking to reverse the downward slide.
There are four groups of four teams each in the tournament. The teams in each group play each other on a round-robin basis, the two teams from each group that finish with the most points advancing to the knockout stages.
The full draw:
- Group A: Tunisia, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea
- Group B: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali
- Group C: Cameroon, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Egypt
- Group D: Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa, Benin
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