Achieving legendary status in chaos: a case for generation of players that failed Bafana

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana

When the history of the South Africa’s senior men team is written, it will always remembers class of 96 as heroes for winning the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), subsequently qualifying for 98 and 2002 World Cups. History will however regard those that came after as failure. The history of Bafana Bafana since readmissions into international football is chartered with failure, temporary glory, mismanagement, fighting and all sort of shenanigans. 

While the period between 2004 to 2018 can be regarded as total disaster and failure to fulfil earlier promises, there is a case to be made for several players as unfortunate to be part of the failure. Let’s explore the legacy of Bafana in this period to make a case for a generation of players who could have achieved more if the circumstances were different.  

The failure to qualify for 2006 world cup 

In the early phase of building the national team after readmission into international football, it could be argued that there were a group of players who were hungry for international football led by a coach (Clive Barker) who was ambitious to make a mark. While Bafana failed to qualify for the 94 World Cup in the US, they quickly won the AFCON tournament hosted here in South Africa in 96, a feat that is still celebrated even today. That victory was followed up by the runners of the same AFCON in 98 and the big gong was achieved with Bafana qualifying for first World Cup in France 98. A respectable third finish at AFCON 2000 and another World Cup qualification in 2002 in Korea /Japan was followed as modest achievements. 

All this was seen as progress for a countries that just a decade before did not know international football. Perhaps the biggest wakeup call was the failure to progress from the group stages of the AFCON in 2004 in Tunisia, this was followed by the subsequent failure to score a goal in the 2006 AFCON in Egypt. The nail in the coffin was the failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The Generation of players emerge but no results to show

After the shock and the failure to qualify for Germany 2006, the nation panicked and started going for short term solution to long term problems, Carlos Perreira, a Brazilian World Cup winning coach was given the job to prepare the team for the 2010 World Cup which we qualified as host. Perreira himself was not naïve about the task at hand, often citing lack of quality and depth in the squad on different occasion, while also emphasising the need for more training to get the players to acceptable level of the World Cup. 

It is in this period that I argue that we had descent quality players that we could have built a strong team on. Majority of the players in the squad for preparation of the 2010 World Cup did not have the baggage of failure to qualify for previous tournaments and could be described as above average players. Teko Modise, Itumeleng Khune, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Katlego Mphela, Tshepo Maselela, Anele Ngcongca, and Siphiwe Tshabalala were players that showed glimpse of talent and quality to take Bafana to the next level. 

All these players went on to win more than 60 caps for the national team with most of them having excellent club careers to be considered legends of the game. For all the failures of Bafana, I argue that these players were more than descent players and probably deserved more than they got at international level, especially at continental level. These players have won different accolades at club level including dominating individual awards in the league and at their different clubs. All of them have won major trophies and medals for their teams – a testament of their individual talent. 

While history will not remember them fondly in the national team, there is a case to be made that most of them would have staked a claim in the 96 generation, Itumeleng Khune, Tshepo Masilela and Perhaps Teko Modise would have had a chance at the starting 11 in the 96 AFCON concurring team. Probably all of them will not be in the squad for the national team that goes to AFCON in Egypt in June 2019, because they are regarded as old or have retired, but they must be remembered as a generation of gifted players that never won anything.

The 2010 missed opportunity 

Bafana qualified for the 2010 World Cup as host, something that could argued that qualifying automatically takes away competitive advantage from host nations. Whilst it could be argued that had they been given opportunity to qualify they could have failed, it’s something that is either here nor there, the fact is, recent history of World Cup hosting affects the host because of lack of competitive matches. The World Cup 2010 represented much more than Bafana winning it, but rather a great time in the history of the Africa people, as it was the first to be hosted in the continent. 

As history have it Bafana failed to progress to the knockout stages, after a 1 all draw with Mexico, 3 nil loss to semi-finalist Uruguay and a win over a disastrous France team. Bafana were caught out for the lack of experience, deficiency in quality in other departments and perhaps cracking under pressure in crucial times. The fans took heart that we lost to good opponent and learning experience gained for future tournaments. The likes of Simphiwe Tshabalala, Teko Modise and Tshepo Masilela showed that they can take the country forward and that AFCON 2012 could be within reach. This was because Perreira assistant Pitso Mosimane took over the team and assumption was that continuity will be there... How wrong...

Even AFCON was too big to qualify 

Bafana post 2010 became worse and fans reduced their expectation of them and it was hardly a surprise even failure to qualifier for AFCON. Perhaps even though the expectations were lowered, failure to qualify for AFCON 2012 in the group with Egypt, Niger and Sierra Leone was one of the lowest point in their history. This failure was exacerbated by the celebratory celebration jigs and jives after a goalless draw with Sierra Leone at home, only to learn minutes later that they did not qualify. This was to end Pitso Mosimane reign as the coach of the national team and continuation of failure to qualify even for AFCON. 

Lest we forget that Bafana failed to qualify for AFCON 2013, only to participate as host after initial host Libya could not host because of the civil war in their country. Another embarrassment was a 3 nil lost to Nigeria in the African Championship of Nations, CHAN hosted in Cape Town before the actual AFCON in 2013, prompting Minister of Sports Fikile Mbabula to refer to them as bunch of losers, a phrase that is still associated with Bafana.

    

History will judge them harshly 

Arguably the best South African team from 2004 to 2018 will include Khune, Nconqa, Masilela, Modise, Letsholonyane, Mphela, Parker, Dikgacoi, Pienaar, Tshabalala, Rantie, Jali, and others, while these are not world beaters, they surely deserved better and can be argued that they were even better than 2012 winners Zambia. Yet, theirs will be remembered by fans as heart breakers, chokers and even less patriotic than their predecessors. They had opportunities to make their mark, but all the times it ended very badly. Different coaches who took charge of them should also take the blame, yet it is the association which should take more responsibility for failure to plan, management and give strategic direction at different times of the international cycle. The national team lacked uniform systems, changes of the coaches after every cycle, either AFCON or World Cup and no sense of direction. Perhaps that now the pressure has eased on Bafana, it is time to rebuild the national team that everyone will be proud to call ours. With the qualification to the AFCON 2019 in Egypt, the failure of previous generation will be banished into history, while we recognise the certain players not for their failure but for their individual accolades and what could have been had the situation been different...

Photo: Getty Images, Internet