World Cup preview: South Africa
Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira
Key player: Steven Pienaar
Previous best: First round 1998 and 2002
Hosting a party is always stressful. You have to make sure that everybody enjoys it while also having a good time yourself. It is with that in mind that South Africa enter their own World Cup under more than a little pressure.
Last summer’s Confederations Cup was okay. The Bafana Bafana hosted that too, and after finishing a distant second to Spain in their group, they lost out to a late free-kick from Brazil’s Dani Alves in the semi-finals, before Xabi Alonso’s extra-time winner gave the Spanish the spoils in the third-place play-off.
It wasn’t good enough though, and after poor results continued – with more than a little paranoia about how they were going to perform this summer creeping in – boss Joel Santana was sacked last October. He was replaced by a World Cup legend.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, 67, is about to coach in his sixth different World Cup finals.
After spells with Kuwait in 1982, the UAE in 1990, winning the tournament with his native Brazil in 1994, being sacked two games into the group stage with Saudi Arabia in 1998 and taking Brazil to the quarter-finals in 2006, he’s back again as coach of South Africa for a second time, and this time might be his toughest challenge to date.
If the World Cup wasn’t in South Africa, then the chances are that South Africa wouldn’t have qualified.
They missed out on January’s African Cup of Nations, and currently sit in 83th place in the Fifa world rankings, below the likes of Malawi, Haiti, Mozambique and Wales. Of the 32 teams to qualify for the World Cup, only North Korea are ranked lower than the hosts.
Their squad is largely made up of domestically-based players, with others scattered around Europe including Everton’s player of the year Steven Pienaar, a creative and goalscoring force for the Blues over the past season, but who possesses a disappointing strike-rate at international level.
Aaron Mokoena is an experienced performer who will want to forget the season from h**l that he’s just endured at Portsmouth, while forwards Bernard Parker and Katlego Mphela – the latter of whom is tipped for a move to the Premier League with Birmingham City – will be looked to for goals, with the creativity coming from domestically-based wingers Teko Modise and Siphiwe Tshabalala.
The pressure is on Parreira as South Africa attempt to avoid becoming the first host nation to exit the tournament at the initial stages, but that is exactly what could be awaiting them in a tough group.
A positive result is surely needed in the tournament’s opening game against Mexico if the Bafana Bafana are to have any chance of progression, and if they are to get their demanding public onside. Their supporters appear determined to enjoy the first African World Cup, but whether or not they’ll be seeing their own team in the tournament for very long is extremely doubtful.
Parreira’s World Cup experience and know-how will ensure that they are an organised, committed unit, but that probably won’t be enough to see them through to the second round.
They’ll be loud and proud, but sadly they won’t be sticking around.
South Africa squad:
1 Moeneeb JOSEPHS (Orlando Pirates)
2 Siboniso GAXA (Mamelodi Sundowns)
3 Tsepo MASILELA (Maccabi Haifa)
4 Aaron MOKOENA (Portsmouth)
5 Anele NGCONGCA (Racing Genk)
6 Macbeth SIBAYA (Rubin Kazan)
7 Lance DAVIDS (Ajax Cape Town)
8 Siphiwe TSHABALALA (kAIZER cHIEFS)
9 Katlego MPHELA (Mamelodi Sundowns)
10 Steven PIENAAR (Everton)
11 Teko MODISE (Orlando Pirates)
12 Reneilwe LETSHOLONYANE (Kaizer Chiefs)
13 Kagisho DIKGACOI (Fulham)
14 Matthew BOOTH (Mamelodi Sundowns)
15 Lucas THWALA (Orlando Pirates)
16 Itumeleng KHUNE (Kaizer Chiefs)
17 Bernard PARKER (FC Twente)
18 Siyabonga NOMVETE (Moroka Swallows)
19 Surprise MORIRI (Mamelodi Sundowns)
20 Bongani KHUMALO (Supersport United)
21 Siyabonga SANGWENI (Golden Arrows)
22 Shu-Aib WALTERS (Maritzburg United)
23 Thanduyise KHUBONI (Golden Arrows)
Click here for previews of South Africa's Group A opponents:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Mexico-a12301
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Uruguay-a12307
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-France-a12312
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