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| Baffling: raging Mbalula and peaceful Igesund |
South Africa’s Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula summed up the
mood of the nation yesterday, describing Bafana Bafana as “a generation of
players we must forget” after the humiliating 3-1 defeat against Nigeria in
Cape Town.
Last night’s abysmal 3-1 defeat against an under-strength
Nigeria sees the hosts crash out of the CHAN tournament at the first hurdle
with the passionate Mbalula also offering this: “Last night we saw a bunch of
losers – unbearable useless individuals. We must never wake up to this."
South Africans are accustomed to failure on home soil after
going out of the 2010 World Cup in the group stages and missing out on the
AFCON semi-finals in a penalty shoot-out. But the CHAN failure – coming despite
a series of bizarre penalty decisions in their favour during their opening two
matches – takes failure to a whole new level in a tournament open only to
home-based players.
Mbalula raged: “The mediocrity we saw yesterday was
disgraceful. This tournament has proved we have a crisis of monumental proportions
in our national sport.”
Head coach Gordon Igesund is under increasing pressure
despite his recent 1-0 friendly win over world champions Spain.
Starting with just one player up front after promising to
“go for a win” Igesund made a series of bizarre selections throughout CHAN and
appears incapable of raising South Africa’s stock despite protracted
negotiations over availability before the tournament.
Mbalula raged: “In Africa we have won nothing – we are the
laughing stock. Even Madiba Magic would not have worked. This generation of
players we must forget.
“It is back to the drawing board. SAFA must draw up a
detailed plan. They must wake up and smell the coffee.”
Igesund, famous for “having a cup of coffee” with (among
others) Everton’s Steven Pienaar when he quit international football, insists:
"What went wrong? Nigeria are a better side than us. We've got no excuses.
We've got to look at ourselves and say that we weren't good enough."
Highlighting his record of 28 games, 14 wins, 7 draws and 7
losses, Igesund said: “I just have to
continue from where I am. I have a contract until June. I'm at peace with where
I am."
But SAFA president Danny Jordaan, hoping to present a
winning team to new technical sponsors NIKE next month, admitted: “We are
facing three challenges - a new technical sponsor, do we need a new name for
the team, and we must review the preparation, philosophy and the technical side
of things.”
See also: http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2014/01/grim-gordon-drinking-at-last-chance.html
See also: http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2014/01/grim-gordon-drinking-at-last-chance.html
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