Bafana Bafana: The return of passion and commitment

“He can put his foot on the ball.” That is high praise for a playmaker in soccer. In fact, that type of player is what we mean by a South African style: the slow build-up, flair, the devastating pass into space and, of course, the dazzling dribble.

I wonder if that style of play can lead to results, given the sheer pace of the modern game. After reading Niren Tolsi’s account of the “system” that would be played, with captain Mokoena playing a “rudder” role, I was totally confused. But after watching parts of the warm-up against Botswana and Wednesday night’s match against Angola, I am beginning to get it. Parreira is attempting a system that plays to our strengths of creativity and flair, but with a much quicker build-up; with recognition that the modern game has a frantic pace and winning games requires many ball-winning tackles. Creativity in a disciplined system.

These musings are because Bafana Bafana are playing in the Africa Cup of Nations. It is a feeble attempt of a disconnected supporter to reconnect. I have played only a few friendly games in the past year and watched only parts of a handful of games (two involving Bafana Bafana), so I cannot even consider myself an armchair fan of the game any more. But even given that, like all fans I have a couple of things to say.

South Africa face a huge task getting out of the group stages. We are, in fact, the lowest-ranked team according to Fifa in our group. The opposition is impressive, and we would do well to get out of the group stages. But, as South Africans we have an inflated sense of how good we are at this, the “beautiful game”, and that means we will expect a solid performance from our team. African football has developed, while we have stagnated against our continental rivals in terms of tactics and technique.

But we have missed passion and commitment more than technique and tactics. On Wednesday night, our team showed us that they can bring both commitment and passion back to the game. Fighting back to get a draw was just what we needed — grinding out a draw rather than losing. They did the same to get a win against Botswana in a warm-up match.

Frankly, I do not care if we play “route one” soccer or ugly football, as long as we get the results. But, from the parts of Wednesday night’s game I watched, there were some marvellous one-twos and some delightful passes into space. If we can play with flair and give our interpretation of the “beautiful game”, the results will be so much sweeter. And between Zuma, Pienaar, Moriri, Modise and Wednesday night’s hero Van Heerden, we have more than a few players who “can put their foot on the ball”.

But, as one soccer scribe writes, South Africa at times were “weaving pretty patterns to no real effect”, and there is truth in that. We must increase the number of shots at goal, and create many more half-chances. This team will get results because they score more than other teams, and not because we are able to defend superbly. As long as the commitment is there, this team can create the spaces, put in the crosses and trouble any defence. Hopefully, we find a reliable goal scorer and our defence becomes tighter in the next games.

There are two tough games ahead, but as long as Bafana Bafana give 110%, we might just get into the knock-out phase. That would be a huge achievement, and after that we can take it one game at a time. It would be a platform for 2010. In fact, we are building our team for 2010 in this tournament. With Tunisia and Senegal playing to a draw, our group is wide open. And I have the hope of a fan that we can overcome the odds.

Keep it up! Continue to fight for the results!