Beefed-up strike force fizzles out

ONCE Bafana's foosball (table soccer) with Senegal was over in Durban, my mate and I went to Wembley - via a push of a remote button, of course.

There, England and Holland were exchanging friendly fire and it was a real game of football.

It had tempo, tenacity, ferocity and five glorious goals. Two of those were the latest additions to Arjen Robben's impressive collection - the flying Dutchman tiptoed around the England defence like a ballerina and fired home Holland' s opener and later curled the clincher. Dutch delight, 3-2 to Holland. Which prompted a friend to ask: "How come our Afrikaners didn't inherit the soccer abilities of their Dutch forefathers?" Perhaps the nutty professor of all things Afrikaner, Pieter Mulder, has the answer.

Pitso Mosimane tried to solve a riddle of his own at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday night. Noticing the audience was abandoning his theatre of excuses, he adopted a new approach against the Teranga Cubs of Senegal - usually they are the Lions of Teranga but Cubs is more apt, considering 10 of the senior players who did duty at Afcon were absent and 14 newcomers present.

In search of their first victory in a seven-match winless streak, Bafana lined up in 4-3-3 formation.

It is an attacking approach which, instead of two defensive midfielders, opts for one and frees the other to play an offensive role.

As a further departure from 4-5-1, the 4-3-3 places more emphasis on attack, with three strikers deployed, two at the head (Edward Manqele and Katlego Mphela) and a shadow striker in the hole (Thulani Serero), with the attacking midfielder (May Mahlangu) joining the forays.

As the two forwards approach the goalmouth directly from left and right, they open up spaces on the flanks for the fullbacks to join in the attack. This is something right-back Anele Ngcongca and Tshepo Masilela (first half) and Punch Masenamela (Masilela's second-half substitute) did well with crisp crosses.

A glut of chances were created but not converted due to profligacy in front of goal. Mphela should have scored from Ngcongca's cross and Teko Modise should have converted from an inch-perfect Masenamela cross. Mphela should have left the ball for Serero to score but shot straight at the keeper.

Locally, Mamelodi Sundowns are a typical example of both fantastic and faulty application of the 4-3-3 formation. When they get it right, they are a picture of perfection and when they get it wrong, the frustration and extra wrinkles on Johan Neeskens's face say it all. The good thing about the system is that it doesn't place the responsibility of scoring solely on the strikers.

Bafana's biggest enemies are poor decision making, an absence of accuracy, one touch too many and a lack of soul. The other enemy is Safa, who refuse to pay the inyanga. It is not a coincidence that Bafana have not won a game since the muti man said they wouldn't succeed until Safa settle their debt.