SAZI HADEBE | Safa must broaden its horizons when looking for Bafana opponents

So Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was surprised that his side couldn’t pull a better crowd than they did against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a friendly at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

As someone who’s been following and covering Bafana for a few years, where we are now is no surprise. In fact, sometimes I wonder how we manage to get any bums on seats when there’s been absolutely no campaign by SA Football Association (Safa) to market the team for years. 

But the biggest factor that has made many people shun Bafana matches is the calibre of opposition that Safa brings to play them in friendlies. 

I mean, how many games have you seen Bafana play against Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Angola, Eswatini, Mozambique and Zimbabwe (when they’re not banned) in recent years?

While it’s good to give our neighbours a chance to test their skills against us, these clashes add no value to Bafana. No-one takes Bafana seriously when they play lowly-ranked neighbours.

The thing is, when you’re known as a side that always plays undercooked teams that you’re almost guaranteed to beat, no-one pays attention to you, even when you’re up against a better side. This is what happened in the match against the DRC.

I guess many Bafana fans assumed the DRC is another of those lowly teams Bafana are always playing friendlies against, especially at home and they decided to vote with their feet. 

Two other things that didn’t help Bafana on Tuesday was the weather, which turned to one of the worst we’ve had in winter; and that they had performed horribly in their 0-0 drawn clash against Namibia at the same venue on Saturday. 

Tuesday’s match deserved better support from South Africans, but with Safa hardly marketing any of their games, fans weren’t encouraged to go to the stadium and support a Bafana team that has shown signs of improvement under Broos.

It is the upper trajectory that Broos sees in his team that leaves him concerned when he sees more DRC supporters in the stands.   

It’s an embarrassing situation, but what’s even more mind-boggling is that this is down to Broos’s employers, Safa, who have always prioritised everything but football and Bafana.

Teams like Mali and Cameroon can properly test and improve our team. But if we continue to play the likes of Eswatini then we should forget about seeing fans flock to Bafana games at home.

The players themselves don’t understand why so few people watch Bafana these days because their performance and results, at least of late, have been far better than expected at times. 

Maybe Safa fears winning will cost them more, which is something they’re clearly not willing to do, unless they’re forced to, like last week when they had to pay Bafana for their win against Morocco in an Afcon qualifier in June. 

If Bafana can beat African giants like Morocco, the number one team on the continent, why do the Safa suits still bother playing the likes of Eswatini — a team Bafana will play at home in a friendly next month before they complete the international break with an away fixture against Ivory Coast?

The answer lies with the Safa bosses who simply refuse to plan properly, market the team and engage with better opponents in good time for them to play against SA. All of this doesn’t help Bafana in terms of Fifa rankings, who are correct in not taking their victories over lowly ranked neighbours seriously. 

For years now Bafana have been ranked outside the top 10 teams on the continent because they are hardly a regular feature when it comes to qualifying for Afcon and the World Cup or playing opponents ranked higher than them. 

The draw for 2023 Afcon, which will be conducted next month in Abidjan, will further expose Bafana in that they’ll at least have one of those top 10 ranked teams headlining their group. 

On the continent, Bafana are ranked 11 and their 1-0 win over the DRC, a team placed 13th in Africa, won’t change SA’s position. Bafana will enter Afcon’s draw on October 12 still trailing Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. 

If Bafana had played some of these top 10 teams on a regular basis in recent years, you can’t tell me Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana would still be above them in the rankings. 

It is when Bafana are pitted against the likes of Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria in their friendlies that fans may develop an interest in watching them. Teams like Mali and Cameroon can properly test and improve our team. But if we continue to play the likes of Eswatini then we should forget about seeing fans flock to Bafana games at home.

While it is good that Bafana’s testing of their neighbours has helped Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique and Angola represent Southern African in the Afcon next year, we shouldn’t forget that it’s not our job to develop them. They ought to have their own plans just as we have our own bigger fish to fry on the continent and elsewhere.

If Safa paid attention to these rankings, their next priority would be to ensure Bafana never again play a side ranked below them. We should be playing teams like Paraguay, Greece, Romania, Costa Rica, Panama, Norway, Canada, Cameroon, Turkey and Ecuador — the teams between 40 and 50 in the world rankings. 

These are the sides that can prepare Bafana better for Afcon in Ivory Coast next year, not our neighbours. The sooner the Safa suits realise this the better off Bafana will be in terms of readiness to face any team that stands in front of them. 

But if we don’t change, no-one will bother watching Bafana play against some of the minnows we’ve been playing against for a while now, and Broos will continue to wonder why there’s no-one shouting Bafana players’ names from the stands. What Safa has been doing must stop. 

It’s enough.