Our training sessions are like World Cup finals: How Gordon Igesund aims to take South Africa all the way

NO NONSENSE: Gordon Igesund

BAFANA BAFANA coach Gordon Igesund has revealed the watchwords in his quest for CHAN silverware as South Africa prepare for their vital Group A clash with Mali tomorrow night.

Igesund’s mantra involves a series of two-word couplets: man-management; no-nonsense; goose-bumps.

Talking on www.ballz.co.za (see video below), Igesund – fresh from that opening 3-1 win over Mozambique, said: “In the modern game of football, I think 70 percent of it is to man-manage players who are paid a lot of money, they are celebrities. You have to let them know you are a no-nonsense person.

“Give them the respect they deserve, but they need to apply themselves I training… and from the moment they put the national jersey on.

“One thing about the Bafana team right now, what makes me very proud, is they all want to play, they’re proud to be a part of it. They want to be here. To play for millions of people. I tell them they must get goose-bumps when they go out to represent their nation.

“My training sessions are like World Cup finals. You must see it. That’s the attitude all my players have. Nobody has a right to be selected. They all want to be part of the starting line-up. There are no automatic choices.

“It’s all very good and respectful, but they compete.

“And the most important thing is, we’re scoring goals. That’s what people want to see. They want to see Bafana fighting… and scoring. Playing the kind of football they enjoy.”

Asked which is his favourite venue for Bafana games, Igesund said: “As a coach, I love the Cape Town Stadium and the Moses Mabhida… but that’s taking nothing away from Soccer City. We have such good stadiums. But I’d say we get the best support in Cape Town. The audience is a complete mix, a Rainbow Nation coming together.

“Slowly but surely, no matter where we are, if we play the right kind of football, the fans will come with us.

“I’m just so grateful for the support we’re getting in Cape Town. We had 26,000 for that opening game, let’s hope they stay with us for Mali and Nigeria and beyond Group A.”

And that’s a good thing. Mali tomorrow and Nigeria on Sunday will be played in the Mother City and if they top the group, the quarter-final will also take place at the Cape Town Stadium (January 25) with a semi-final in Mangaung (Jan 29) before a hoped-for return to Cape Town for the final on February 1.

With Igesund promising “two or three changes” for the Mali game, he added: “The guys are very pleased with that opening 3-1 win over Mozambique, it took a lot pressure off us. The players are under huge scrutiny, passions are high, people say we HAVE to win the tournament.

“They coped with that very well on Saturday, coming back from 1-0 down – after training, I can say everybody is really looking forward to the second game.

"I am contemplating making changes, Mali is a totally different game, I want to have a bit more pace going forward.

"We are playing against a very good and physical team so we have been working hard on keeping the ball, making quick passes because we don’t want to get into a tussle with them as we will come off second best.

"We need to be clever and use the ball well and need to be more penetrative than we were in the first match. So the mission is very clear – we have to get a result in this game so we know where we are.

"I was quite surprised how impressive Mali was against Nigeria, we have our work cut out for us.

“There are some very, very good teams here for CHAN. Morocco have eight of the Raja Casablanca players who played against Bayern Munich in the World Club Cup final in December.”

But as he has said form the start, Igesund believes a combination of no-nonsense, goose-bumps and man-management could end with long-awaited success: "We're not being arrogant saying we want to win this CHAN tournament, what we are saying is that we're going to be very competitive and I think we can go all the way.”

BOLLOCKZ! my own football show on www.ballz.co.za, restarts after the Christmas break on Thursday from 9am. See the Ballz channel on www.YouTube.com for our growing collection of interviews with the big names in South African football.

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal and Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice and how we are doing in using @thumperpigeon's R5,000 to make money for the Ballz charity WINGZ OF CHANGE.

CHANUARY COULD BE CHANTASTIC: Kekana thunderbolt lights up a hungry footballing nation

CHANTASTIC: Kekana (centre) celebrates his cracker

CHANUARY. That’s what we call it when the footballing New Year starts with the much-maligned third edition of the Championnat d’Afrique des Nations.

In English? The African Nations Championship. But calling it the ANC would be a little confusing given the unveiling of the ruling party’s manifesto over the weekend.

Poorly marketed, widely disrespected, there appeared to be no CHANce this tournament would really inspire our Rainboo Nation – until THAT sublime moment from Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Hlomphe Kekana. CHANtastic!

With the opening game against Mozambique in Cape Town locked at 1-1 after a series of habitually missed chances for Gordon Igesund’s Bafana Bafana, Kekana’s Kracker left visiting goalkeeper Soarito cartwheeling through the sky as his 35-yard hammerblow hit the back of the net.

And suddenly CHAN was up and running. A 3-1 opening triumph. With Mali beating AFCON holders Nigeria 2-1 later on the night, the tournament – limited to home-based players – had suddenly blossomed. With R80,000 win bonuses, full international caps and FIFA ranking points on offer, that’s as it should be after the unseemly row over player availability.

For a nation exhausted by hosting (2009 Confederations Cup, 2010 Fifa World Cup, 2013 Africa Cup of Nations), Igesund and SAFA were under huge pressure to get off to a winning start in a tournament where only the winners emerge from the qualifying pools.

Either side of Kekana’s Kracker, Bernard Parker – ironically one of the players Kaizer Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung wanted withdrawn from CHAN - scored his 20 and 21^st goals for the nation, the first a hotly disputed penalty, the second a neat left-foot finish. A troubled first half was forgotten, a rousing win had the Cape Town audience on its feet.

Igesund grins:  "History tells you a win in the first game gives you a 70 percent chance of qualifying. At AFCON and the World Cup, we drew our first game, it was difficult from there onwards, an opening draw puts a lot of pressure on the team.

"Winning today gives the players lots of confidence, the fans get behind us and fill the stadium up when we play, they start believing again.

"If you're creating chances like we did, you have to be happy. We had 20 chances and scored three. We always looked like we were going to get one after they Mozambique scored. I was very confident.

“Sometimes you watch a team play and they don't score a goal and they haven't even created any opportunities. Yes, we had a major problem with scoring goals but we haven't got that problem any more!"

Mali, now officially the SERIOUS rivals in Group A, loom on Wednesday at the merry Cape Town Stadium with Igesund insisting: “Look it wasn’t a classic performance. But we had control of the game and we scored two fantastic goals – especially Kekana’s.

"It was the kind of goal you dream about. When Kekana struck it, I thought: “He’s taken the wrong choice there, he’s a bit far out” but when you saw it fly, you could see it had goal written all over it.

"In the first-half I thought we played okay – we didn’t really penetrate and I thought we were unfortunate to concede the early goal (Itumeleng Khune admitted afterwards he slipped and fell short of the deflected shot).

"But in the second half I was very happy, we kept possession, didn't panic and kept plugging way and were rewarded with the three points which was crucial for us."

With Thato Mokeke, Buhle Mkhwanazi, Lindokuhle Mbatha and Asavela Mbekile all making their full Bafana debuts, Igesund argues: "That also excited me today. Sometimes debutants can get a little nervous out there, but I was pleased that we were able to bring them on. We believe in these younger players; slowly but surely you have to do it, like we're doing it right now... I was very pleased for them."

 BOLLOCKZ! my own football show on www.ballz.co.za, restarts after the Christmas break on Thursday from 9am. See the Ballz channel on www.YouTube.com for our growing collection of interviews with the big names in South African football.

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal and Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice and how we are doing in using @thumperpigeon's R5,000 to make money for the Ballz charity WINGZ OF CHANGE.

La 3e Orange Championnat d’Afrique des Nations 2014: Will CHAN be a four-letter word for Gordon Igesund

Under pressure: Bafana Head Coach Gordon Igesund

CHAN. A year ago nobody knew what those four letters meant. Now they spell danger for South Africa coach Gordon Igesund.

Officially, CHAN is a shortening of “La 3e Orange Championnat d’Afrique des Nations 2014” an African Championship for home-based players – no of those highly-paid stars from Europe allowed.

On the surface of it, the tournament sounds a great idea and for the long-suffering Igesund, fresh from that earth-shaking win over FIFA’s No1 Spain.

Who could ask for more: Orlando Pirates have just reached the final of the African Champions League, our glittering PSL is considered the richest league in Africa and Bafana get to play at the magnificent Cape Town Stadium, where fans turn up to watch paint dry.

But the chance of an international football tournament being won on home soil for the first time since 1996 has been shaken by that unseemly spat between SAFA, the PSL and our greatest footballing franchise, Kaizer Chiefs.

We all know the details. The PSL dumped the top-of-the-table clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Chiefs slap bang in the middle of the CHAN tournament and despite an agreement forged with SAFA, Bobby Motaung (and quietly, Jose Ferreira) threatened to withdraw their stars.

But following Saturday’s sparkling statement of patriotic fervour from SAFA, all 23 members of the squad were present and correct before the opening CHAN clash against Mozambique on January 11. Kaizer over-ruled Bobby. Hooray!

But wait. The fact is Igesund now finds himself under huge pressure to emerge from Group A (Mali and AFCON champions Nigeria complete the group) before surging to CHAN silverware. It feels like South Africa has bent over backwards for SAFA and the nation is demanding the ultimate result.

But the truth is, this is not a great Bafana squad. Orlando Pirates? Their African crusaders weren’t even considered. Our talented foreign contingent, as per the rules, are absent.

Igesund, rather than turn to the Amajita who recently won the COSAFA Under 20 tournament under Ephraim Shakes Mashaba in Lesotho, finds himself trying to persuade his aging squad to overcome all obstacles. Anything less and the calls for his head will rise to a crescendo despite THAT glorious triumph over Spain (which has actually seen Bafana slip one place to 62 in the FIFA rankings).

Igesund himself is full of platitudes: “At the end of the day this is our national team; it’s the national team for the people. We want to do well, try and get as many players as we can to compete and win things.

“We are trying to change the mentality of the people out there. We want to start having a winning mentality.”

The truth is, Gordon, it’s win or bust. Selecting the old favourites and forcing them to play in the middle of an already chaotic PSL season without drafting in a few promising youngsters could spell trouble. Serious trouble. 


BOLLOCKZ! my own football show on www.ballz.co.za, restarts after the Christmas break on Thursday from 9am. See the Ballz channel on www.YouTube.com for our growing collection of interviews with the big names in South African football.

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal and Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice and how we are doing in using @thumperpigeon's R5,000 to make money for the Ballz charity WINGZ OF CHANGE.