After Amajita’s failure to qualify for the Under-20 African Youth Championships, South African football was dealt another blow last weekend when the Under-17s (Amajimbos) were booted out of the Under-17 qualifiers by Burkina Faso. This is a sad situation.
Our football’s supposed to be progressing, especially after hosting a successful World Cup, but instead it’s going down the drain. These youngsters should be qualifying for tournaments, that’s where they can gain experience and grow as international footballers.
For years to come, Bafana Bafana will continue to suffer if this situation is not taken care of. I really can’t understand how we can expect the boys to qualify and do well in international competitions without proper preparations, it puts unnecessary pressure on coaches and players.
Our youngsters aren’t exposed enough to the highest level of football. Playing friendlies against mediocre opposition isn’t good enough, the boys need tougher opposition if they are to develop into world-class players.
It’s funny how our coaches always come back with the same old excuses, it’s always about not enough time with the players, not enough friendlies to get the team to play well as a unit, clubs not releasing players for international duty and so on. It’s crazy, it all needs to end.
I believe the problems go deeper than that. Until Safa get their house in order and actually take football development seriously, our football standards will continue to decline.
Structures like the reserve league are needed urgently. The poor results from the junior national teams send a clear SOS to Safa.
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