GOOD GORD! Igesund as Rambo from the Star back page today |
GORDON IGESUND told the assembled journalists in Yaounde
yesterday: “The facilities have been good. Training has been great. We have no
complaints.”
A few hours afterwards he laughs: “Not quite true of course.
But that’s what I want the Central African Republic to hear!”
It’s typical Gordon. South African football’s head coach is
a tough bloke, right back to his days as a no-nonsense striker in Durban in the
1980s, where defenders feared to tread on his toes. Bulletproof like Rambo, as the Johannesburg Star illustrated today on their back page.
Day one of Bafana Bafana’s trip to Cameroon – allegedly neutral
territory but in truth the lad of Issa Hayatou and his Francophone football
clique at CAF – started badly and got steadily worse.
On Wednesday
afternoon at Douale, the commercial capital, South Africa’s 34-strong
travelling party for the crucial World Cup African Group A qualifier were told
their flight to Yaounde, the legislative capital, had been cancelled. Something
about tyres on the aeroplane.
Pitch battle: The stony training ground in Yaounde, from Robert Marawa's facebook page today |
With no relief in sight, Gordon ordered a bus. They made the
five-hour trip through Cameroon by road, with one member of the party
revealing: “It was a real eye-opener.”
Arriving late with one training session already abandoned,
Igesund’s men then found the training ground they’d booked in preparation was “unavailable”.
Another delay while a new ground was sought. It turned out to be the facility
pictured on the right.
Igesund laughs: “It was unbelievable. Rocks everywhere,
holes, even the goalposts were a mess. So we found a corner with a bit of grass
and did some warming-up excercises. I didn’t want to risk injury.
“I was angry, of course I was. The whole thing was a
disgrace. I’d love to know the full story behind the cancelled flight. But I
had warned the players to expect this sort of thing. They’re not fond of us in
these parts.
“I told the players afterwards, on Thursday night, they can throw
as many obstacles in our way as they like, it only makes us stronger. And to be
fair NOT ONE of my players made a single complaint, you know? They were good as
gold.
“Today (Friday), we finally got to train at the stadium
itself. It’s not bad. It’s a big pitch, plenty of grass on it. There are a
couple of bumpy patches but really, in African terms, it’s like Wembley.
“Tokelo Rantie (who arrived from Malmo in Sweden after last
week’s 2-0 friendly win over Lesotho on the astroturf at Maseru) looks sharp. I’m
even considering playing three up front!
“Yeye and Shabba (from double-winning Kaizer Chiefs) are
looking good, the team is shaping up. The centre-back pairing (Tower Mathoho
and Thabo Nthethe) are looking solid and I’m very, very confident. I want to
pick up from our home game, where we beat CAF 2-0.
“If we can do that again, we’ll be well on our way. And then
we’ve got Ethiopia in Addis Ababa next weekend. Win that one and we just need
to beat Botswana in our final game to top the group.
“And don’t forget, Ethiopia have got Botswana tomorrow – our
neighbours drew 1-1 with Egypt last week, they could do us a favour, couldn’t
they?
“Look, we know it will be a tough, tough game. They’re a
physical side (the latest FIFA rankings show CAR at 59, South Africa at 60) but
so were Lesotho (155) and if we can keep the ball, use our talented players, I’m
confident.
“I can promise you we won’t be under-estimating them.
“But I have a very good side, despite the injuries. We have
a good squad, Itumeleng Khune is a great goalkeeper, we will take these
problems we’ve had and use them. We’ve turned the negatives in to positives.
“We know the nation is watching. Thank you for for your
support Neal. I hope your 3-0 prediction (made live on South Africa's eNCAnews tonight at 7.45pm) doesn’t cost you your hair again!”
I said it these countries are the first to treat us like shy but they flood our country but who complains let us hope we'll keep proving them wrong. Nice blog Neal
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