Gregory Mashilo Former Banyana Banyana Coach
By Gregory Mashilo
Former Banyana Banyana Coach
I must start off by saying the whole Bafana Bafana team at the World Cup tournament was outstanding, but in my opinion the most outstanding players for me were Khuliso Mudau, Okono, TLB Mbokazi and Appolis.
Now are there areas of our game which need improvement?
My answer is “no.”
Who is to blame for the Bafana Bafana loss at the World Cup?
The coach or the players?
I still say no.
I opine the blame must be put on the system of football development that we are using at the moment at national level.
This as we only have one head coach, one assistant coach, one goalkeeper coach, one conditioning coach and 2 performance analysts.
Under such a system what can one expect?
Most of the teams we played against at the World Cup tournament have a triple of all these positions under the control of one head coach of course.
We are still psychologically-trapped in the ” pre-international football mode of 1992.”
That is why our teams do not regard CAF Club competitions highly.
We don’t take playing against teams based outside the country even in friendly matches as a development tool.
We think going for pre-season camp in another country or continent is just a show.
We still have a tournament like the Carling Black Label cup where teams are selected by fans.
This is really a ” Long Walk.”
It is now apparent that we were playing against Canada at the World Cup with the aim of getting to the penalty shootout.
Can you believe that?
The substitution of Relebohile Mofokeng at half time told the whole story.
Coach Hugo Broos has shown he doesn’t believe in our creativity.
We were not creative at the World Cup tournament and this is embarrassing, really.
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