Igesund to finally get his chance?

Bafana Bafana sunk to a new low after drawing 1-1 with Botswana, a country with barely two million people versus South Africa’s 50 million. Perhaps the worst part was that such a disappointing showing in Gaborone was almost not surprising, such has been the malaise surrounding the national soccer team this year. Underachievement has become as synonymous with Bafana Bafana as England, regarded as one of the worst serial offenders in world football. You don’t have to look far for their African counterpart.

Pitso Mosimane got the boot following the equally poor draw with Ethiopia, and now the poisoned Bafana Bafana chalice is up for grabs. Considering that South Africa’s qualification campaign for Brazil 2014 has already fallen off track having barely left the station, expectations are so low that any improvement would be welcome.

Of the shortlisted candidates, Steve Komphela and Gordon Igesund look the likeliest choices to become the new Bafana supremo. Igesund, the ultimate journeyman in South African soccer, having coached as many different teams to the PSL title as there are fingers on a hand, apparently cut short a trip to China with Moroka Swallows to come back to South Africa.

Komphela, the former Bafana defender from Kroonstad, did his chances much harm following the Botswana bungle. He said the nation deserved better, the understatement of the month if not the year. Safa, an organisation not known for its administrative brilliance, has snubbed Igesund before when the job appeared destined to him. Will it do so again?

For a country with more resources than most on the African continent, and the richest football league on the continent, the continued poor performances of Bafana Bafana might not be a national crisis since there are more pertinent issues facing this country such as corruption, poverty and poor leadership, but as a tool to improve the mood of the country, the team has been a dismal failure. Soccer is South Africa’s most popular sport, so it is vital that Bafana offer more to their loyal fans on and off the pitch then they have been doing so recently.

2010 was a glorious moment for South Africa, but all that goodwill has been squandered as the team have drifted into the land of the ignominious. The rot needs to be stopped. That in itself would be progress. If Igesund does get the nod, or if Komphela gets the job on a permanent basis, they have a heck of a job on their hands.