SAZI HADEBE | Showboating is one thing, but it’s the result that counts

SA football has always been littered with colourful footballers who are capable of doing extraordinary stuff with the ball — the ball jugglers. But for me the story doesn’t end with showboating because obviously that alone can’t win anyone a game.

I have always liked players who are blessed with flair and creativity, attackers with skills to go past two or more players at a time, score goals or produce a defence-splitting pass that leaves the opposition bamboozled.

To illustrate my point, I was a big fan on Zinedine Zidane, Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, John “Shoes” Moshoeu, Patrick “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Doctor Khumalo and many players of their ilk. Now I can’t get enough of Lionel Messi. I won’t include Cristiano Ronaldo in this category because for me he’s more of an extraordinary finisher than a creator.

The common thing about all the sorts of footballers I’m fascinated with, is that they could outfox opponents and create as many opportunities for their teams to score goals if not scoring themselves.

For them, playing football was not about displaying how skilful they were but about using their skills to make their teams win. Messi still does this for Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina, and we’ll miss him as he’s now in the twilight of his marvellous career. How I wish he could just go on and on and on.

Why am I telling this story?

At the moment our country seems to lack these types of players  — be it professional, youth or amateur ranks — where I feel most of these talented players are poorly managed and coached.

I believe coaching is the big element our talented players could be missing because the Okochas and Iniestas didn’t make it without proper guidance. These players could have ended up as ordinary amateurs if they were not coached about the importance of the end result.

And the end result in football is scoring goals and winning matches.

Messi is still playing today because the basics, he had when he made his debut for Barcelona as a 17-year-old back in 2004, are still very much part of his game. The most important aspect of Messi’s game is the team not him.

What our current footballers lack, is the ability to use their skills to help their teams score goals and win matches. It is as if the coaches have not been able to drum into these players that playing to the gallery and losing the ball, or not producing a pass that makes a difference, means they’ve contributed nothing to their team.

We still see a couple of players with potential to produce extraordinary moments in our Premier Soccer League (PSL), but the inconsistency in their performances means we can’t say we have playerswho drive fans to attend the games week in and week out.

That’s the huge difference when you compare today’s players with Okocha, Khumalo and Moshoeu. With these legends you knew there would be two or more moments in the game where they would produce or create something out of the ordinary that would not only excite the fans but, more importantly, help their team win the game.

What for me is even more worrying, is that even when I watch the PSL reserve teams, I don’t see players who will emerge with the sort of skills we used to see in our football not long ago.

What is emerging are players with basic skills but not enough intelligence to know the importance of protecting the ball after showing a glimpse of your skills and making moves that result in goals. The fans seem to encourage and enjoy players who display their ball-juggling skills, even if they don’t produce the end result. That’s a pity because that gives our players false sense that they’re doing the right thing.

For me, that’s the difference between our football and the rest of Africa and the world. It’s no wonder we no longer have players in big clubs overseas, no players capable of winning Caf Awards or players in the teams that are winning big tournaments on the continent or elsewhere.

The whole scenario calls for a rethink as to how we’re coaching our footballers. Many of our talented players don’t seem to have the ability to produce what the late Ntsoelengoe use to give fans while playing for Kaizer Chiefs.

In Ntsoelengoe we’re talking about a legend who was not a one-game wonder but one who delivered awesome performances week after week. He delivered something that drew football supporters in their droves to stadiums every time they knew he was playing.

The current PSL lacks those kinds of players, be it if you’re talking about Chiefs, Orlando Pirates or Mamelodi Sundowns, our football is crying for players who can pull the crowds back into the stadiums.  

Correcting this all starts with how we’re coaching our footballers. Cutting out showboating that has no chance of producing a desired result, has to be something we discourage in our players. That sort of football doesn’t help a player who aspires to have a long-lasting career.

Messi is still playing today because the basics he had when he made his debut for Barcelona as a 17-year-old back in 2004, are still very much part of his game. The most important aspect of Messi’s game is the team, not him. And yet he’s the one who gets the most accolades when his team wins.

Our talented players, on the other hand, play as if they’ve never heard of teamwork. The instant gratification you get from fans as you show off your skills seems to be what drives our current players the most.

Our football will never advance an inchwith that sort of mentality. We’ve got to show our young players what the likes of Khumalo, Moshoeu and Okocha used to do. So good were their ball skills, that their talents were highly sought after.

They were sought after because they could make a difference in a game with one pass, one swerve of the body, and their ability to control proceedings. The players we have today lack those skills.

I don’t believe we no longer have players with extraordinary talent. What we don’t seem to have are coaches to guide them, coaches to tell them every day to instil fear in the opposition with their first touch and to make a difference when it comes to their teams in terms of scoring goals and winning matches.

I still believe we can still produce plenty of players of Khumalo and Moshoeu’s stature if we groom them the right way while they’re still young. Our football needs match winners more than ever before.

But we need to get the coaching right.