I return from Cape Town Stadium, having witnessed some fantastic football. Rather heart-warming, as it is the host nation, South Africa, turning on the style today.
An up-for-it performance, seeing them beat the early pace-setters Ghana by two goals to nil.
Very disciplined. Coach Solomon Luvhengo getting the tactics right and when he saw a player struggling to keep up with the requirement, in true Mourinho fashion, he made a change...as early as the 36th minute.
Both RSA goals came from set-pieces. In truth there should've been at least two more. Top result and huge morale boost going into the final game.
The second game wasn't as bright. Argentina beat a rather flat [again] Nigeria side by one goal to nil in a game which was dominated by the referee.
____________________________________
I left the stadium with two questions though. Actually two challenges.
1. For South African football, where does the responsibility of cultivating natural goalscorers lie?
Today a fellow media representative posed a question to Mr Luvhengo regarding the number of missed opportunities we had and what he was doing about this. His paraphrased response was: "It is a national problem" Nail on head "It is not my responsibility to address this issue, it should be addressed at grass-roots level" Spot on again
Let me say that Solomon Luvhengo does know how to address even the trickiest questions posed by us media. His responses are thought-provoking and he does his homework, and the above response shows that.
So, what's the problem then? If we look at the PSL, we note that our top marksman [Nomvethe] bagged 20goals, next best Rodgers with 13. This isn't a problem which appeared overnight either. It's an issue which has been around for as long as i can remember.
It's an issue at Cape District level. How do we fix it?
Ngidi. The future is now
2. How do we get the public interested in the future of WORLD football?
On the two days that I've been fortunate to be at the games, there have been at least 5 players who have looked really really impressive. Ngidi [RSA], Meyiwa [RSA], Ruiz [ARG], Abdul [GHA], Anaezemba [NIG]...one of these may very well go on to be the next household name.That being said, neither Athlone nor CPT Stadium games were even reasonably well attended. Such a shame!
It would be more of a shame if the tournament continued to draw handfuls of support instead of Cape Town supporting in their droves.
Come and witness some of the finest young talent on the planet [rhymns doesn't it] and be one of the first to see a [possible] future star in the making.
8 Nations Monday 28 May Fixtures:
Brasil vs Kenya at 18h00
Cameroon vs Japan at 20h30
both games at Athlone Stadium
______________________
No comments:
Post a Comment