We don't care about Jali. We care about Bafana.

Like the situation when a naughty child does not act in the expected manner and is then sent into the naughty corner, national team coach Gordon Igesund (otherwise known as GI) has sent Orlando Pirates midfield general, Andile Jali, into the Bafana Bafana wilderness.

 

The naughty child has been sent into a dark corner to think about his transgressions and his acts of disobedience. This has been quite a lengthy punishment. The child is not wailing for attention but the silence is deafening from both parent and child. Nobody seems to know how long this punishment will last. Some of the Pirates fans neighbours seem to feel the punishment is too harsh and suspicions of abuse are abound. The bystanders (Swallows fans, like myself) are merely concerned with a positive end to the story and the growth and development of the child. It appears that SAFA the social services department has been alerted to the situation but feel the parent is handling the situation well. The other obedient children of the Bafana family have – like obedient kids should behave – not voiced their concerns, maybe for fear of similar punishment. Even the prodigal son, Benni McCarthy, has kept his mouth quiet, appearing to have learnt from a previous experience with his broer Moneeb Josephs.

To bring things back to the football field, one thing that cannot be denied is the fact that Andile Jali is one of the best players in the Premier Soccer League. He has been an instrumental part of the treble-winning Pirates sides (as my fellow Bucs tweeps keep reminding us all) and still, potentially, has plenty of years available to play for the national squad and maybe abroad. How
ever, his arrogance and, ahem, “inappropriate” behaviour off the field seems to have soured the relationship with the current Bafana Bafana head coach resulting in the player still being overlooked for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier against Central African Republic.


Jali has been consistently overlooked by Igesund for Bafana matches, which most of the public see as a form of punishment for quotes such as the following quote found in an interview in the Soccerladuma newspaper in October 2012:


“I care about my team where i get paid every month. I work for my team and I don't work for the national team”

In this particular interview, the words “I don't care” are repeated a number of times. The interview painted a picture of an arrogant, stubborn man and could have – and probably was – viewed as disrespectful by Igesund and his assistants. To the average soccer fan, the interview painted a picture of a player who he would be doing the national or the national coach a favour by playing for Bafana - like it was a privilege to have Andile Jali in your team (well, at least that's how I took it).

The only person in SA football who knows the truth is Andile Jali. He has been punished, and punished for quite a long time. But I believe it is now time that our father who art in Nasrec forgive Andile, the same way that he was willing to forgive (and have coffee) with Steven. It is time for Ntate Igesund to reach out his hand, show the young boy the way forward, whisper sweet nothings while singing the comforting words that he is “once, twice, three times” a player (just to keep up with the treble theme), and move forward together as a Bafana family. We will need all hands on deck if we are to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. South Africa is already at “itchy bum” stage regarding the state of our qualification campaign.

Winning, in the end, is what the average supporter cares about. He/she does not care about punishments. He/she does not care about egos. And he/she does not care about how many kids of wedlock a particular player has. He cares about winning or about “reclaiming the glory” (hello there, Khosis). The same applies for SAFA.

Based on my knowledge of South African football, when results are not forthcoming, the coach will end up going especially when it involves the exclusion of certain fan-favourites. Whether it takes a formal apology from Jali, some initiative from Igesund, or a special intervention from SAFA (fixing relationships not fixing anything else), at this point, personally, “I don't care'. 

I care about the best local coach we have staying in job, using all the resources available and I care about seeing one of the best local talents progress and shine for Bafana.  That is what's good for Bafana.

We, the fans, don't care about the drama behind the scenes. We don't care about Jali. We simply care about Bafana Bafana.

Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter @Tom_18Yards

Don't buy target men, dont buy!

The target man upfront is the guy that most South African soccer fans (unlike the English) love to hate, and absolutely hate to love. Like rain in the summer, he is sometimes described as a necessary evil, at best.

Often providing an outlet upfront for long ball-playing defenders lacking in the confidence to provide incisive passes or deep runs into the pitch, or acting as the side-kick for the short, nippy little fella in a classic 4-4-2 - or modernized 4-4-1-1 - the target man is necessary to provide balance and ensure the system works efficiently but rarely offers an enjoyable experience for the South African viewer.

I happened to be at the Orlando Pirates versus Ajax Cape Town game at Orlando stadium on Tuesday night and calmly sat and observed many of the Pirates faithful booing and heckling the new Pirates signing, Takesure Chinyama, even before the Bucs substitute had managed to get a touch of the ball. All of this changed after Takesure - you’ve got to love that name - provided a great finish to a neatly worked goal. The “supporters” all left the stadium mimicking his winding up celebration.  All seemed to have been forgotten.

Having also watched the recent Kaizer Chiefs games against Wits University and Premier Soccer League rookies Chippa United, I noticed how the crowd was getting on the back of Kingston Nkhatha, The Glamour Boys’off-season signing who plays up front as the sidekick in the ongoing Bernard Parker show. 

Nkhatha enjoyed a relatively good start with two goals in his opening two league games. But, as is the rule for target men in the local game, as soon as the goals dry up, the fans put their hands up and the substitution sign can be seen all over the stands. Just ask big Philemon Masinga – boo-boys favourite and the man responsible for scoring that great World-Cup qualifying goal against Congo in 1997. Had Siphiwe Tshabala not scored THAT goal in the 2010 World Cup, we would still be forced to watch replays of that thunderous strike every time the national broadcaster plans to show a major soccer event.

The boo-boys' favourite,Philemon "Chippa" Masinga, in his prime

It almost seems like the target man is seen as the antithesis of the flashy diski “style”.  This is the guy that rarely, if ever, provides an exciting step-over, or a tsamaya that provides our friends at Supersport Football with thrilling highlights-reel material.  

The local game is full of short, nippy players full of pace, skill and whole wardrobe full of tricks and flicks.  As  I saw in the Pirates game, your Oupa Manyisa’s and Tlou Segolela’s of this world tended to provide the trickery and, unfortunately, when the ball came to the target man, he was either too slow to get past the man or to latch on to a through ball. At other times he intentionally slowed the game down, holding up play and waiting for support (which is probably why the coach brought him on in the first place).  This usually causes a lot of frustration for local fans.

Holding up play is not attractive – it doesn’t quite go along with images an average South African visualizes when thinking about diski.  This usually leads to calls for the big guy upfront to be taken off for a more graceful player, regardless of the whether this replacement will be as effective.

This mindset has probably contributed in arguably the best target man in the League, Mame Niang, playing for PSL rookies, Pretoria University.  Tuks, as the Pretoria-based team is commonly known, plays beautiful football while Niang diligently provides a different route to goal and is almost unstoppable in the air – just ask the similarly tall, Mathew Booth.

Should the coach bows under the pressure and answer the fans’ prayers and decides to put in the flashy player and fails to achieve the most desirable result, fans then blame the coach for either (a) putting Mr Target Man in the starting line-up to begin with (b) having favourites, or (c) wasting “talent” on the bench (whatever that means). And as we all know, in the PSL, job security for a coach is all but a dream. 

This is where coaching team with a very small, calmer fan base is to a team’s advantage in South Africa. Gavin Hunt, coach of the three-time PSL champions Supersport United, is never afraid to tinker with his line-up from tactical or disciplinary reasons and put in the likes of Glen Salmon or in the current setup, Nathan Paulse. This is because the small band of supporters is not as demanding and I should think it is a bit easier to resist pressure from 1,500 or so fans rather than 40,000.

But that’s South African soccer for you. Beautiful soccer is at times more important than winning soccer. For some time after he left Orlando Pirates, Kosta Papic was a firm fan-favourite in South Africa simply because of the how he managed to get the Pirates team of that period playing silky, speedy, and slick football unlike the more successful Gordon Igesund and Roy Barreto (both whom were let go by the club despite winning a league title).

As a consumer of the game, think to yourself: what’s more important to you,  champagne football football or championship football?

Thomas Monyepao