Despondency rules the development roost

Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane believes poor coaching education and despondency are behind the dismal performances of the country's junior national teams.

"I think we are lacking quality coaching education. Football development is not only about facilities, reserve leagues, regional youth teams. You can bring a Ferrari racing car and somebody must drive it. If the car is not good, the driver suffers," said Mosimane.

"Coaching at that level is not the sexiest. We need to respect youth coaches and pay them good salaries. This is the reason why top coaches do not bother. The ones who are stuck there do their jobs reluctantly."

The national under-17s and under-20s failed to qualify for the African junior championships and the African Youth Champions respectively - meaning both will not play at the World Cups next year.

"Lesotho, who beat our under-20s twice were radical in their development plan. I spoke to the chairman of their federation during the World Cup. They have scrapped their senior national team because it was not winning and did not represent them well. They were very patient and their under-20 doubles as the senior national team. It was a bold move that is paying dividends - but SA cannot afford that."

When Bafana announced in March that Wits University sports facility Sturrock Park would be their home base for the World Cup, one of Safa's high-ranking officials promised there was going to be a coaching exchange programme with the Royal Dutch Football Association.

"We signed a cooperation agreement with the Dutch around 1999. If we can send at least six coaches a year to the Netherlands it will augur well for the future. They will come back and impart knowledge throughout the country," Dennis Mumble said at the time.

Seven months later nothing has been said or done. Unlike SA, Australia have several Dutch coaches working with their youth teams and this has boosted development.

"There are a lot of coaches in the regions who have been put there on sentiment and the scouting system has been poor," Mosimane added.

"The likes of Teko Modise, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kagisho Dikgacoi and Surprise Moriri were never selected for any junior national team. They only played for Bafana and they missed out on a lot of important developmental aspects, that could have helped them at the World Cup.

"For instance, you might find that in the area where Dikgacoi was playing there was never a regional tournament. Or the coach was told in one day to prepare a team for a tournament or there was never a coach at all to prepare the team. We need to add value by developing the regional coaches.

"I am assisting former players such as Maimane Phiri, Isaac Shai, Siza Maphalla, Themba Mnguni, Kaitano Tembo and David Notoane and they are very knowledgeable about the game. We need to take these guys to Uefa coaching courses.

"We should not wait until they are 50 years old."

Despite Mumble's nonsensical announcement, it does make sense to send up-and-coming coaches to the Netherlands or other countries for a couple of years to learn.

"Youth football is not all about winning but preparing players for the senior national team. Winning is good because it shows that you know what you are doing. If I were to judge the under-20s and under-17s by recent results I agree the chain is broken. What myself, Khabo Zondo and Solly Luvhengo need to do is revisit the programmes because we don't want this chain to be broken in 2012."