REMEMBER WHAT NAPOLEON SAID ABOUT THE ROAD TO RUSSIA: From COSAFA to Rio Olympics... to the World Cup qualifiers

PENALTY KING: Gift Motupa scored twice from the spot

ARISE Sir Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba. You lifted the COSAFA Castle Cup in Namibia with a young, untested Bafana Bafana squad. Nobody can EVER take that great night away from you.


But remember the words of another famous man who reached Russia with a squad of 600,000. Napoleon Bonaparte, who got to Moscow but paid the price, said: “To be defeated is pardonable. To be surprised? NEVER!”


Though it took penalties to defeat quarter-finalists Lesotho, ranked 155 in the world, the emphatic 5-1 semi-final win over Swaziland, ranked 117, was emphatic. And the gritty 3-2 win in the final at the Sam Nujoma Stadium was more entertaining than anything Euro 2016 could manage on Saturday.

We can safely ignore the bleating of Botswana’s coach Peter Butler, who said after his side had conceded two penalties and a goal that looked off-side: "This tournament will never gain any credibility when we have disgusting, atrocious, shameful refereeing.”

Butler conveniently forgot to mention the gift Reyaad Pieterse handed his side for their second goal, allowing an innocuous cross to slip through his gloves. And the first penalty was a clear-cut foul.

Though Butler, who played 70 games for West Ham in the early 90s, claimed Botswana “were the better side” and the refereeing was unquestionably poor, Bafana deserved their first taste of silverware since they last won the COSAFA Cup in 2008.

Mashaba was far calmer afterwards as his young squad danced with joy in Windhoek: “Well done to Botswana, they played very well, but we expected this.

“Since COSAFA started for us, we always came from behind and that shows the character is there.”

After a brief questioning of how COSAFA can actually improve football in South Africa, Mashaba should now shift his attention to the World Cup qualifiers, instead it appears he will now focus on the Rio Olympics with these youngsters, who fly straight out for a friendly in Japan with a week off before travelling to Brazil.

Rio will give South Africa some idea of where we REALLY stand in world football after a torrid two years under Mashaba’s leadership. Whether he will recall some of the heroes of Senegal or stick with the COSAFA squad remains unclear. Obviously Keagan Dolly will be roped in, but names like Norodien, Farmer and Lakay have quietly faded.

On their return, the U23s may or may not form the spine of the new Bafana side who face a tough task qualifying from Group D of the African World Cup qualifiers.

Worryingly, many in the South Africa media described Friday’s draw in Cairo as “easy”, but it’s not. In terms of world rankings alone, we are stuck in the 3rd toughest group of five. And only the group winners go to Russia.

Mashaba must accept vast improvement is needed. Having failed to qualify from Group M for AFCON 2017 in Gabon, Group D presents more serious problems.

The AFCON group WAS easy. Look at the world rankings. Cameroon 58, Mauritania 121 and Gambia 165. Compare that to the World Cup group: Senegal 41, Cape Verde 49 and Burkina Faso 73.

And we couldn't even manage a best runners-up spot for Gabon next year.

It appears Mashaba has coasted through his AFCON qualifying failure with a little help from the COSAFA success. We go in to the World Cup with a coach many are questioning and SAFA, with their President involved in the PE Mayoral race and Technical Director analysing Euro 2016 on TV, apparently unconcerned by what has gone before.

Mashaba himself says: "We could not have asked for a kinder draw. I'm happy but that does not mean it is going to be easy.

"There is no second best at this stage, only top teams in the group will be at the World Cup. We should be among them.”

But clearly he hasn’t noticed how many top level stars now play for Senegal, or how Cape Verde have gone to great lengths to attract players to strengthen their national squad. And Burkina Faso, the only side ranked lower than South Africa’s 68, are no pushovers either.

It’s not a matter of “we should make it”, Bafana Bafana under Mashaba remain minnows in the continental pool. If he gets our boys to Russia, Mashaba will confound the experts, tear up the form book. If only he realised that. Just look what happened to Napoleon after Moscow.



KAIZER CHIEFS NEW SIGNINGS

Below are the 21 names who have been in talks with Bobby Motaung since he discarded 20 players on the club web-site on May 31.

I believe the first 11 are CONFIRMED for 11am tomorrow when Football Manager Motaung announces his names, with the two youngsters taking the count to 13.

TWO of the additional players requiring fees may be unveiled, Anthony Laffor is close to moving from Mamelodi Sundowns. Apparently Motaung is hoping the stated fees for the remaining players will fall closer to the start of the season. 


The big overseas names like Steven Pienaar, released by Everton, and Tokelo Rantie, unwanted at Bournemouth last season, are not among them, though May Mahlangu and Anele Ncongca are "nearly affordable".

Bobby is keen on naming 20 players - equal to the number of unwanted - but will ultimately hand over a far more economical squad to Steve Komphela for the new season.

CONFIRMED:

1 Keagan Buchanan, 25, Bloemfontein Celtic (free) Midfield

2 Sbu Khumalo, 26, SuperSport United (swap with Keagan Ritchie) Defender

3 Ramahlwe Mphahlele, 26, Mamelodi Sundowns (free, signed pre-contract) Defender

4 Mitchell Katsairo, 26, Chicken Inn (R3m deal) Striker

5 Edmore Chirambadare, 24, Chicken Inn (R750,000 deal) Striker

6 Lebohang Mokoena, 29, Mamelodi Sundowns (free, released) Striker/wing

7 Kudakwashe Mahachi, 22, Golden Arrows/Mamelodi Sundowns (free) Midfielder

8 Evans Rusike, 25, Maritzburg United (possible fee) Striker

9 Joseph Molangoane, 28, Chippa United (free) Midfielder

10 Ennocent Mkhabula, 27, SuperSport United (released, free) Midfielder

11 Siphelele Ntshangase, 23, Black Leopards (disputed) Mid/striker

KIDS

1 Emmanuel Letlotlo, 18, Asidlali (new contract, promoted) Striker

2 Aviwe Nyamende, 23, Shumba Academy (new contract) Defender

FEES REQUIRED

1 Thamsanqa Sangweni, 27, Golden Arrows (R4m) Midfielder

2 Sibusiso Vilakazi, 26, Bidvest Wits (R12m) Midfielder

3 Justice Chabalala, ??, Free State Stars (R5m)

4 Thapelo Morena, 22, Bloem Celtic (R6m)

5 Prince Nxumalo, Ajax Cape Town (R4m) Striker

6 Anthony Laffor, Mamelodi Sundowns (R4m) Striker

7 Charlton Mashumba, Jomo Cosmos (R3m) Striker

8 Bantu Mzwakali, 22, Ajax Cape Town (R6m) Midfielder

The Bafana masterplan for 2018: This is the word of Gord

The way ahead: Igesund and squad

No point in being clever here. I'm just going to quote Gordon Igesund when it comes to the "2018 South African Masterplan" he unveiled to the SAFA technical committee on Friday morning.

Everybody I've spoken to said it was one of the most impressive presentations they'd seen in the game. A real, long-term plan for Bafana Bafana. Farouk Khan, a man who knows a thing or two about football development, described it as “something I’ve never seen from a Bafana manager before.”

We had a long talk with Gordon on SportsTalk on Talk Radio 702 and Cape Talk 567 with Udo Carelse. There's no point in me adding my comments.

IT'S THE WORD OF GORD

"It’s actually very simple, I had to put through a proposal suggesting the right way for us to go. 

“We had five players in our squad who played for the South African youth teams. The great football teams in the world have 22 of their 23 who progress through the Under 19 and Under 21s.

“This is the way we have to go with our squad. Our players have to be trained and programmed to play the system the way the national team plays.

“We have to do much, much better with our development. The Under 17 and Under 19 coaches have to buy in to our senior system.

“We’ve been through difficult times. We’re trying to get a quick fix sometimes, we’ve had so many national team coaches.

WINGLESS WONDERS

“The World Cup coach we had didn’t have wingers. The next coach wanted to play another way. The style, the system is changing too much. We have to buy in to a system we can identify with. For the next six years we have to stick to a certain style. The coaches must teach our players to use that system, that style.

“So when you get a player from the Under 23 team to the national team, he will fit in completely.

“Development can’t be done in one year. It takes 10 years, 15 years. The kids don’t have enough time to adapt. We really have to apply our minds, make sure we stick to this philosophy for the next ten years.

CONTRACT KILLER

“A week ago I was supposed to sit down with the president of SAFA but I ended up in hospital with an appendix. I’m not in a big rush to sign a new contract. I’m getting huge support, the new contract will happen.

“Indications are that it is exactly what they want. It will be no problem.

“I want a team that squeezes the opposition. We want to play 4-3-3 with three strikers, one very attacking midfielder. Against Mali we were outstanding, and Morocco. We had more possession, more attacks than any other team in the competition.

“We have great youngsters coming through, Mahlangu, Furman, Serero. This is not something new, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates play like this. Possess it, move forward quickly, don’t give it away. The blueprint is out there, as time goes on, people are going to be able to identify South African football.

“This is not a Gordon Igesund brand of football. This is South African. Like you can identify Dutch or German football.  We’ve got to hone it, play attractive football.

“We have to identify players too. We had a bit of a problem. Too many similar players up front. We have to develop it in our Under 17 team, show a striker how to play with his back to goal.

“We were the highest scoring team in our group at AFCON, not bad for a team that couldn’t score goals before the competition.

“You can’t expect to score goals if you only push forward three or four times in a game. For a team that hadn’t won in years in the AFCON, we changed things. That’s where we want to get to.

 IS IT IN THE GENES?

“High pressure. Sprinting. Stop, start. But we weren’t fit enough. I realised that was our problem. Our players have the fitness to run the Comrades Marathon but not the anaerobic fitness, the stop-and-start ability to keep going.

“That’s not naturally in our make-up. The short stuff. The 10m sprints. We’re not genetically built for that. It’s something we have to learn.

“We’ve been out of world football for far too long. We need to get it right from an early age.

“Our youngsters have to be able to play this way, a pressing game. Against Mali, we started to tire, we weren’t tight… they scored. And they won on penalties.

“We can produce world class players again. Look at our history. In the Confederations Cup, we held Spain. We’ve played the top teams in the world.

“The last 10 years or so, there’ve been so many changes. Too many short term fixes. Whether Gordon Igesund or Joe Soap is in charge, we have to develop our philosophy, work on that.

“In ten years from now, we’ll see a huge difference. Anaerobic training from a young age. Dean Furman and May Mahlangu, both playing in Europe, ran 15 and 16km in a match. Most only do 12km. And they were able to do 50 to 60 sprints, local players could only do 10 or 20 sprints.

“Tactically, we can’t play a squeezing game with our local players. We have to start scientifically get our players to a level of fitness. From an early age.

ON THE SAME PAGE

“Our junior coaches, our Under 17 and Under 21 coaches, we all need a common goal. Spain, Portugal, Germany… their squads, of the 23, each had 22 who had come through Under 17, Under 21. Each trained to play a certain way.

“My squad had 14 players who have never seen a South African youth team.

“We need to have the best coaches in there, people who have played football, know the game, able to work.

“Whether it’s me or somebody else, as head coach, I need to tell all the other coaches how we’re going to do it. For Under 20, for Under 23.

“Then all of a sudden we’re on the same page. This is hugely important.

“I’ve only just unveiled my master plan. I can’t reveal it all. There are a lot of names I’ve mentioned, people I’d like to work with. I know the coaches of want, of course I do. But it’s a bit early to name names.”

And there it is. In tablet form. The word of Gord.

This article appeared as my Neal & Pray column in The New Age this week. You can follow me on twitter at @nealcol, watch me on eTV Sunrise and eNCAnews every Monday - or simply go to www.702.co.za every night of the week, where I produce SportsTalk with Udo Carelse.