Real hard work starts now

BBK: No matter the outcome of today's match, preparations for the 2014 World Cup must begin in earnest.

Safa must announce the new national coach because Carlos Alberto Parreira will have run his race with Bafana after the Cup.

If Safa sticks to its word, Pitso Mosimane, who was hired to learn from the Brazilian, will take over. Many will ask whether Mosimane is the right man to take the reins, especially in light of allegations that agents have used him to influence team selections.

If Mosimane's conscience is clear, he will not be bothered by the claim. And that would be helpful. South Africa does not need a weakling leading our national team.

Safa must stop paying lip service to the transformation of the development of the game if we are to see genuine change in the identification of talent.

Though Bafana showed a marked improvement in the friendly matches before the big one, it was crystal clear in our two Group A matches, especially against Uruguay, that preparation and the tournament itself are chalk and cheese.

Brutally exposed was the bitter truth: Bafana still have some distance to travel before they gain respect as a football powerhouse.

It is a truth we knew before the tournament. It was not blind patriotism that propelled us to ask coach Parreira to make us proud.

It is not stupidity that makes us stand behind Bafana even when it is apparent that they are on the precipice of earning the dubious honour of failing to reach the next round. The embarrassment of an early elimination looms large, but it is nothing compared with the wonderful way in which we have behaved thus far.

The warmth we have given the world has been wonderful.

The passion with which we have presented this World Cup and the exposure South Africa is accruing from it are priceless.

The onus is on us to continue showing that we meant it when we said we would use this tournament to strike a severe blow to Afro-pessimism.

With or without Bafana, with or without other African teams, this party has to continue. We invited the world.

Weren't they pleasantly surprised when they were not greeted by machete-wielding blood mongers ready to chop the hands off jewellery-bedecked tourists?

Yes, there has been some crime, and some of the perpetrators appear to be Argentinians arrested for stealing cellphones.

That Spanish and Portuguese journalists were robbed at their Magaliesburg home away from home is regrettable.

But the sky did not fall when South African captains of industry were cleaned out in a five-star hotel in Germany when the European country hosted the previous edition of the competition.

Criminals are everywhere.

As for the minor matter of playing France today, a bit of flexibility will make Parreira's first World Cup win with a non-Brazilian national team a possibility.

An approach to the game is not cast in stone.

How can all the work and money invested in preparing the team for the tournament be allowed to go to waste?

Coach, make us proud. We are in the mood for some French toast. Give us this day our second World Cup victory. That would be our consolation if our bid for final-16 qualification does not pan out.

For now, we keep hoping against hope.