Tournament News
Mexico steal march on Bafana
2010-03-18 18:05
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Johannesburg - While the Bafana Bafana cat, so to speak, is contentedly sharpening its claws against an assortment of clubs in Brazil, the Mexican mice have seemingly been at play and stolen a march on South Africa for the critical opening World Cup match at Soccer City on June 11 by arranging warm-up friendlies against soccer powerhouses England, Holland and world champions Italy.
Mexico's intensive build-up immediately before the World Cup would now seem to contrast markedly to that of Bafana Bafana, who have only a tentative fixture against Denmark and nothing else to show as far as opponents are concerned in late May and early-June before the World Cup is launched.
And what must be particularly galling for Bafana's Brazilian coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, right now is that he made a special request to the South African Football Association (SAFA) to obtain England as pre-World Cup opponents.
Instead, Mexico will be playing England at Wembley Stadium on May 24, before the tricky Central American combination go on to play Holland on May 26 and Italy on June 3.
"The big problem for us," said a SAFA official, "is that most of the teams competing at the World Cup will be arriving in South Africa at a late juncture shortly before the start of the tournament - and, in any case, they are not keen to get involved at that particular time in an emotional contest in which the host nation is involved."
Bafana complete their current training programme in South America with a game against Paraguay in Asuncion and then proceed in April to another training camp in Germany - where further practice matches will be played against scratch club combinations.
"No fully-fledged internationals have yet been confirmed after the Paraguay game before the World Cup," said the SAFA official, "but we will obviously be trying to find suitable opponents to satisfy Parreira's request for tough opposition immediately before the big event itself."
And he further revealed that Argentina were among the teams that Safa were currently courting - although there was no definite confirmation from any of the proposed opponents.
In the process, the impression may justifiably have emerged that the World Cup's host nation should have lined up their final dress rehearsals some time ago instead of hustling to make arrangements right now.