SAZI HADEBE

SA football has a unique but bad tendency to shoot itself in the foot. This happens often, especially when common sense looks the only likely option.

I can name many incidents when a decision is not taken simply because one “big man” or faction is not in line with whatever is proposed by the other faction — one that is not even supposed to be viewed as an opposition.

Take for instance the delays we had in getting back to normality after Covid-19. There were many weeks wasted on endless and needless debates about when and how we must open. This happened at a time when other nations were already living life as if Covid had never existed.

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos’s plea to meet PSL coaches — a call he made almost from the time he was appointed Bafana coach in May 2021 — is another case in point. That to this day Broos has not had time with coaches boggles the mind, but I can bet my last cent that the reasons this hasn’t happened has nothing to do with football.

The list of such incidents is endless. The sad part is that these shenanigans drag back the development of the game in SA, and it brings nothing but shame for SA football.

In a week in which everyone should be paying respects to one of South Africa’s iconic coaches, Clive Barker, after his passing, it’s sad to report there are more troubling news than good in SA football.

The latest problem, as in most cases, has its roots in the cold war between SA Football Association (Safa) and its special affiliate, the PSL.

The tragic part is that it involves Bafana, a national team that should be supported by everyone, a Bafana that Barker protected and respected with all his life.

Bafana have qualified for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to be played in Ivory Coast early next year. It goes without saying that every effort should be made to support the team to prepare for the tournament.

Part of the preparation involves making sure Broos has the right players to represent the country, whether they play in the PSL or elsewhere. Luckily in this off-season there’s a competition that could have helped sharpen Bafana even better than the last qualifier they’ll play against Morocco in Johannesburg this weekend.

That competition is the Cosafa Cup, the southern region tournament, that SA often use to bring fringe Bafana players to the fore. This year’s tournament comes six months before Bafana’s participation in Afcon 2023.

Again, I repeat why not play with those guys (Maemas) in Cosafa? You’ll have a good view of them there, getting international experience. We asked the PSL about this (release of players) and they said it’s not a Fifa window.
— Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos

Since his appointment, Broos has chosen not to oversee the team when they play in this tournament, preferring to give the reins to his assistant Helman Mkhalele.

With the Afcon 2023 on the horizon Broos has, however, shown some appetite to see attention paid to the sort of players chosen for this year’s Cosafa Cup, going as far as to suggest that players such as Mamelodi Sundowns’ Neo Maema should be tested in this event.

Broos’s comment comes after the outcry that ensued after he left out the Sundowns midfielder out of his latest team to face Morocco on Saturday.

By Broos’s own admission, Maema’s availability for Cosafa is out of his hands as there has been a serious lack of co-operation and co-ordination between Safa and PSL.

“He’s (Maema) good player, but is he ready for us (Bafana)? I don’t know. I can’t call up seven players like that (Maema) in my team to try them. It’s impossible.

“Again, I repeat why not play with those guys (Maemas) in Cosafa? You’ll have a good view of them there, getting international experience. We asked the PSL about this (release of players) and they said it’s not a Fifa window. We must accept that, but if you think more about SA football and how we can make progression and make it better, then you can’t be happy with that decision,” Broos said this week.

In any country where there’s unity and purpose as to how the national team is supported, what Broos is complaining about would never be heard of. It is no-brainer that having as many top PSL players in Cosafa this year would do wonders, in that the coach will have a chance to view them in a competitive space closer to Afcon.

Imagine if Safa and PSL officials had jointly called on all the PSL clubs to release their players in support of Bafana’s preparation for Afcon 2023. That move would not have hurt anyone, but because some head honchos are protecting their egos, no-one is going to stand and do the right thing for the good of the country.

It’s not like Broos has many dates left in the Fifa calendar to prepare his team for Afcon 2023. After the Morocco match, there will be three more opportunities (September 4-12, October 9-17 and November 13-21) for Broos to find opponents who can test Bafana in friendly matches. And guess what? Safa has not given any guarantees to Broos that he will get proper opponents on those dates. Already this week Safa missed a chance to give Bafana at least one more game than the official one they’re playing against Morocco.

One would have been delighted to see Broos have these three Fifa dates on the back of seeing the best PSL players tested in the Cosafa Cup. The tournament, which will be in Durban in July, would have widened and strengthened Broos’s pool for Afcon 2023. But now, with no international platform to showcase their skills, only a miracle will help players like Maema convince Broos they’re ready for Afcon 2023.

But all our miseries begin with our football administrators whose main purpose is to show us who has got more power over the other, rather than serving the nation. And we all know that when the two bulls fight it is the grass (the Maemas) that suffers.

In a week we say our goodbyes to the only coach to win the Afcon trophy for South Africa, how depressing can it be that our football officials can’t, for once, find each other for the good of the country?.