Tournament News

SAFA plan to 'revive' SA style

2010-07-20 11:57

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Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba (Gallo)

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TPluz7/30/2010 6:42 PM: To me SA style simply means playing the way I was taught to play by my junior coaches:Keeping the ball, playing short passes and using our technical ability (read:skill) when the need arises to get myself out of trouble.South Africans are not generally big people so we cannot compare ourselves to the Nigerians and Ivorians (Who, despite their big frame and with players almost entirely from EUROPE, proved to be no better than Bafana).Obvioisly,u cannot have 11 dribblers in your team.But you also cannot have 11 fighters on the field.A team needs a bit of both and that's what made us Champions in 96.Shoes and Doc (who are actually the biggest show boaters I have ever seen other than Messi) had Linda Buthelezi and Eric Tinkler to do the dirty work for them.That meant they had more time to do what they do best, take on defenders and create more space by pulling defenders thereby creating scoring opportunities for the strikers.But lately,so called experts and coaches are doing away with players in the calibre of the Doctor and Shoes instead of properly guiding them while encouraging them to use their skill.The experts shout praises when the likes of Iniesta and Messi (ironically both are small framed players with lots of trickery in their feet) go past defenders with ease, yet frown when Shabba or Teko do the same.The funny thing is almost every week I see Steven Pienaar doing the Tsamaya and Show me your number in the EPL and that to me is a SA style of play.Pienaar was developed in SA at the Ajax Youth system and perfected in Europe.The way he plays, you feel as though he was encouraged to play the way he knows while at the same time he was taught the importance of tactical discipline.Although still new to coaching, Kaizer Chiefs coach, Vladimir Vermezovic is exactly my kind of coach.He is always talking about the importance of technical discpline while at the same time he encourages his players to use their skill.We need more of his kind to help us take our football foward.SA Style does not have anything to do with show showboating because not all SA football players,professional or amateur, can perform breathtaking skills with the ball.At the same time,we must not strive to play like the English (They are a useless lot in any case) beacuse the way they play is they way they are taught to play from an early age.Having said that,their style is nothing to write home about. I mean have u ever watched Stoke play Watford? It's worse than watching paint dry..so we should not even compare ourselves to them.The best teams there are the one with predominately non English players.Maybe we shud look up to the Spanish and Brazillians, because their players enjoy playing with the ball and most are not even big and strong.

Hlebs7/26/2010 1:26 PM: AND where are the like sof Neil Tovey, Gavin Hunt, Clive Barker and Boebie Solomons just to mention but a few coaches of color to this team? comon SAFA.

"G"7/23/2010 9:36 AM: Get the likes off Ivin Khoza and others out of the running off SAFA and let they concentrate on they teams so that neutral people run SAFA. Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns do not even have development teams. When was the last time they brought up 4 or more players from they development to they first teams????????? SA style of soccer is great but the our soccer bosses do not know how to perfect it against world class soccer. Another fact to get our soccer effective is to build development schools in all the other provinces and not just in Soweto and Elandsfontein.

The Future7/21/2010 11:27 AM: The great Italian coach, Vittorio Pozzo, announced in 1927 that Italian football needed fitter, stronger men who were better technically than their opponents. He started scouring the country for players who were then put into training camps. He hand picked his squad and they worked together to get fitter, stronger and technically better than they had ever been. Italy won the World Cup in 1934, the Olypic games in 1936 and the World Cup in 1938. You need a vision, then a plan, then you need action and the results will come. "SA style" does not exist because our country is so diverse. Black players from townships play differently to coloured players from the Cape Flats. The key is to integrate the best players, make them fitter and stronger than the opposition using sports science and improve their technical ability with world class training. And in 10 years we might be a good enough team. This is the future.

Koos7/21/2010 10:04 AM: Amazing that most of these cmments are not about soccer but this is a soccer topic. what does SAFA have to do with PSL ticket prices, the PSL is a proffessional wing that determines their own income streams. Style of play, mmm 1996 we played with 2 of the biggest tricksters in the game, Doctor and Shoes and still won the AFCON. Style, mmm players fielded according to their strenghths, using SA players according to their strengths, not expecting them to be European. Spain's players are some of the smallest but still won 2010 WC. Samuel Eto'o is one of the smallest players but is World Class!European style, mmm what is that?The most profitable European league are English and Spanish, do they play European, HELL NO! this is due to the influx of other nationals into their setup. I wonder how many of you watche Champion League Final 2010, Milan new they couldnt compete with Barca and decided to pack their defence and it worked wonders for them.My point is both teams new where their strengths lie and optimized that and that is what i call style.Watching Watford play and Man Utd u would swear they are from two different planets, same as watching Wits and Chiefs locally and that my friends is a problem! The country players should be groomed the same to ensure seamless intergration at national level and to me thats A COUNTRY STYLE OF PLAY.

ockert7/21/2010 9:59 AM: Back on the road to nowhere !!, as is starting to happen in Rugby, Cricket will follow soon.

KAPENSCHTATEN7/21/2010 9:52 AM: The only way SA football and all sports in SA for that matter will improve is with decent funding. We need a positive system in place that developes coaches and in tern, players to world class standards. I mean no disrespect to SA coaches but we cannot keep sticking to the same old methods of training, it does not work any more. Sport has evolved and so have the training techniques. We have proven we have the talent, no denying that, our players that have gone overseas have matured into world class players in their own right, but the guys here, we saw in the world cup, are just relying on pure talent alone. If we had the technology, the right development systems in place, players would be physically, mentally and technically, trained and prepared for specific positions. SAFA needs to have a 2,4,10,20 (whatever) year plan inplace to make football a success in SA. At the moment they are too short-sighted, how are they supporting these new coaches.....have they even thought of developing new ones for the future?

Samson7/21/2010 9:51 AM: We have the right people for the south afrcan style of soccer just like Kaizer Motaung a person who can look after our soccer.Please do not talk about our style of soccer becouse all of you belong to politics.Clive Barker our hero who took Africa cup of nation becouse of your politics you screb him off becouse is white.You can not go anywhere guys.Leave the soccer to the right people go back to politics.

mje7/21/2010 9:47 AM: All these commentators discussing "SA Style" are delusional, style wont win us games, we have to look at what is standard best practice amongst the leading football nations in the world and duplicate that, "for the confused" i think that you are living in a dreamworld, not one of our current crop of players with the exception of Steven Pienaar, would ever make it in Europe, and as much as you dont want to hear it, I am afraid that Europe and the English league is where it is all happening, If our players are not able to play in these leagues they and us will never improve, they will just continue to be big fishes in a tiny pond The scary thing is that there is no one waiting in the wings, SA soccer is going to be in the doldrums for years to come, all because SAFA have stuffed up year in and year out. This new plan that they have is laughable, especially when they said they want white players involvement and need to introduce soccer into schools. Question from me is what happens to all the thousands of white players who play junior soccer around the country for clubs and when they get to senior level, quit the game, because there is absolutely no chance with qoutas that they will ever be selected. SAFA you made your bed, sleep in it!

WAKA WAKA7/20/2010 8:08 PM: WHAT IS SA STYLE !!!! please can someone explain this to me , we have never had a decent soccer team since the Tovey/Radebe days, our current players are show boaters proberly paid to much SA terms. Maybe create a tricks league for them---.if an 1.8 BAR coach can't do the trick then we have serious problems in SA, This SWC was a great spectical just a pity we wil not be at the 2014 SWC , SAFA & GOV just don't learn by there mistakes 18 coaches in so many years. Nonumber 10 Pitso BIG MISTAKE NO Afcon Cup and NO 2014, mybe a win against Ghana with out there stars players. WAKA WAKA WAKE UP !!! "Copy Paste Save and prove me wrong !!!

LB7/20/2010 7:58 PM: What a load of bull. Most SA coaches would not be allowed to coach 10 year olds in Spain because they are unqualified to coach. What is all this nonsense about "our style"? When are they going to teach kids to shoot, tackle, shield the ball, move off the ball, head the ball properly, pass accurately, stay fit, eat properly, keep a level head, etc.? That's what they do with 10 year olds in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Holland, etc. And we talk about an imaginary style of football. These people know nothing about football.

For the confused7/20/2010 4:43 PM: When the word "SA style" is mentioned people immediately assume that this means perfoming tricks; this is totally wrong. SA style means simply take what comes naturally to South Africans combine that with world class technical training(shooting; first touch control ; heading;positioning etc) and you are bound to produce one of the greatest teams the world has seen. SA lost it's identity in soccer when they allowed this palookas who call themselves coaches into this country. Right now instead of producing the likes of John "shoes" Moshoeu; Doctor Khumalo; Botsotso Makhanya; Tebogo Moloi; Jomo Sono; David Nyathi; "Ewe" Khambule; Zane Moosa; we are incapable of producing a team that can be dominant when in possession of the ball. Some of the top countries have now realised how effective some of the "old SA type players" are and have them in their team. E.G SA was one of the first countires to have a back four of players who can actually be effective in attack(David Nyathi; Siswe Motaung; "Ewe" Khambule; Mark Fish to name a few) and now the dominant teams in the world have ball players in the backline and guess what we have in SA nothing!!!!....because we were told ball players are not effective. When Doctor Khumalo was at his prime there was no European team willing to give him a chance; today he will be picked up in a second by a European team simply because they realise the importance of a playmaker in the team. Look at the team that won in '96 and tell me why we were so effective against a Ghanaian\Cameroon team that had players who were twice the size of our players; the answer is simple we played the only way that we could effectively play... "SA style" if u wanna call it that. There are many other examples of why we should go back to "SA style"; importantly though we must look at what used to us make weak compared to other teams and learn from foreign teams to improve our style of play. Fact is we can never be better that than England\Germany\Italy going down the wing and crossing the ball; we dont have the players for such play . We will become world beaters if we are quicker than the oppossition on and off the ball, we improve our players' technical abilities and we encourage what comes to us naturally...ball skills.

Cas7/20/2010 4:37 PM: These people are taking us the surporters for a ride again. They make the same statements after every failed tournamant.Common South Africans lets stop this nonsense.How many technical Comittees have been set up consisting of the same people.Same old same owe

don't care7/20/2010 4:14 PM: These guys sound illiterate, the stupid names they give to under 17, 20 and South Africa!....& why are they all black coaches and not to mention players, we all know that the other races play better soccer.

Oh Dear7/20/2010 4:13 PM: SA style = Money in the pockets of soccer bosses. I’m afraid to say that if you do not develop soccer at junior level and give all provinces a fair shake at representation then we are doomed to the boring and unimaginative soccer played in the PSL. There must a great pool of talent in SA but again these youngsters are not given a chance unless you play for KC, OP, MS or the likes. Oh and Teko Modise is useless!!

khoi-boy7/20/2010 3:56 PM: First thing to do is to increase the number of teams from 16 to18 or 20 in the PSL, like in real football countries like Spain, England, Egypt, France, Italy and the like. This will make SA players more competitive, taking into account that the PSL is flooded by players from other African countries, which in turn leavea fewer positions for SA born players. Come on mr Khoza & cronies we are not a poor country.

Parker7/20/2010 3:42 PM: I think a lot of you have forgotten that South Africa won the 96 AFCON. That's how we should be playing, because it brought us great success at the time.

pule7/20/2010 3:30 PM: They say "It's better late than never". That national coaches should work together should have been done long time ago but it's good to see reality and sanity have prevailed upon SAFA. One other thing that these coaches, espeacially for Bafana, is to abstain from favouritism - that's if a player does not perform at their club, they should not be considered for the national team. Finish and klaar!

colin7/20/2010 3:09 PM: The same problem exists in all SA sports as in soccer, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND QUOTAS!! How many white players represented Bafana Bafana - was soccer as representative as the "White sports" are required to be? I predict SAFA officials will take a break from real adminsitration for a while while the they make plans on how to plunder the coffers that were hopefully filled by the WC, they will then wake up and realise they still have no concrete plan in place, and by then they wont have the required funds (Plundered already??)!! 2 years TOPS we will see headlines like "SAFA investigates missing millions" or "SAFA bosses baffled at state of bank account", or "SAFA appoints 10th boss in 2 years due to infighting" - The problem with our sport is not the players or the style! It is the spirit of exclusion based on race which causes dis-unity, and the rampant corruption that takes place at the highest levels. The money NEVER reaches the so called programmes that are needed to support and develop and retain our countries finest talent in SA.

simon7/20/2010 2:24 PM: Success in soccer, or any sport for that matter, has nothing to do with a unique style of play. It has to do with basics. Until we start proper coaching at junior levels we will never be able to compete on an international level. You can take any world beating team and the basis of all their styles is solid, basics soccer. No matter where you are in the world or who your coach is, these are standard! Having lived in the Netherlands and seen how they practice I can tell you SA is far off. Children as young as 5 practicing tactics, set pieces, passing and dribbling for hours on end. These are the basics needed, not tricks that you will maybe use once in a match. There is a distinct lack of basic training, fitness and commitment in most areas of our soccer coaching. Until we come up with a structured program of coaching and talent development covering all ages, we will not be able to compete on a world stage.

Jim7/20/2010 2:08 PM: How do you "revive" something that has never existed?

Viking 57/20/2010 2:07 PM: I agree with Mikzo, start getting a well run school league together at municipal, provincial and national level but make sure there are no fat cats spending the funding on cars and booze. Also I'd like to see more football academys. Let's get rid of all fat cats in SA football, especially "Dr" Khoza the gangster. SA football is not your personal gang to run and exploit as you wish. At the very least we should be the best in Africa, we have the resources and talent for it, we are just missing the structures.

Nick7/20/2010 2:04 PM: SA Style = Showboating, and this you can/should only do when your 3-0 up. Who are we going to play to get to this scorline Banyana Banyana. @Frans Football is played like so - Whoever has more goals at the end of 90 Minutes is the winner. You dont need style for this, just skillfull commited players and coaches. SA will never get any!!!

sonntag7/20/2010 1:53 PM: @big paul when you strugle at lower primary school the teachers were so patient with you they did not chase you away pity you never made it to high school, that is true because if you went through to higher education you would not be saying that they should drop Teko and the others you know, they have the rite to be part of the SA soccer they need to be given a chance stop your discrimination or go into the hole if ever you have children, one day they will be facing the same situation and it will be so painful because of their father who failed to think. To all please stop all this nonsense

Banda7/20/2010 1:48 PM: Where is the under 12 national team that won the world cup 4-5 years ago?? These kids should be 16-17 years now and should make the bulk of the u-17 squad.

SBN7/20/2010 1:46 PM: Neil Tovey is not there , lets hope the Billion will be used wisely

Mandoza7/20/2010 1:42 PM: bad news!!!

@home7/20/2010 1:41 PM: The current coach and his assistants were all head coaches of BB and were unsuccessful and clueless. Are we reverting back to the clueless incompetent 'SA style' football.Seems like the last and only big soccer tournament BB will play in was the 2010WC unless we organise another major tournament

Louwrens7/20/2010 1:28 PM: start at school level, get school leagues up and running, like rugby and cricket, that is why our rugby and cricket is so strong.

ASV7/20/2010 1:06 PM: Hahaha, the soccer circus gets bigger and bigger!!!!

football lover7/20/2010 1:06 PM: Give me one example of anyone playing African or South African style football. Rubbish !!!

Big Paul Basher7/20/2010 1:05 PM: Big Paul, I think you are missing it. There is nowhere in the article where mention is made of "tricks", "hogging" and "running". It's all in your imagination. Read the article again, unless you have comprehension problem. The article talks of a strategy that will ensure continuity in style of whatever nature from under 17's through to senior team.

Mtura7/20/2010 12:53 PM: @ Big Paul: Scara Ngobese has passed on. If you are going to make such comments at least be respectful.

Peter7/20/2010 12:47 PM: The SAFA Executive need to catch a wake up. They have been pushing the "SA Style" of soccer for many years. In fact since Clive Barker left as National Coach. Pretty SA Style soccer is one thing, winning soccer is another. Are they able to tell the difference?? Me thinks not. Coaches such as Carlos Queros etc were not good enough for SA yet he was good enough to take Japan to the Quarter Finals of the WC?

REALIST7/20/2010 12:46 PM: so we want to bring back S.A style of football and go back to being 100 rancked team in the world dont SAFA get it S.A style football is not of international standard. so if you play international teams we will get hammered. all the top ranked african teams have european coaches and play european style football. Ghana, Ivory coast, cameroon, nigeria. nigeria and other african tried local coaches and they dropped in rankings and lost a lot of games (with the exception of egypt) and have reverted back to european coaches because they bring qaulity(discipline, composure, tactical awareness) something that S.A style of football does not consist off at all. there is no doscipline what so ever in S.A style of football they do not know tactics or composure. there is only two coaches that can get those things out of a team and that is gavin hunt and gordon igesund. fact.

Mikzo7/20/2010 12:43 PM: Viva Integrated style of play viva! I would also like to see concrete action plans (not hearsay) on development at school level - A well sponsored school league (not remuneration-related) may help. I know of several schools that appoint qualified part-time coaches who spend a number of hours with soccer teams per week, but a constraint is always a funding source for these coaches.

Abie7/20/2010 12:38 PM: Why is Lucas Radebe's name is not mentioned here?

gav7/20/2010 12:37 PM: Wow!!!!!!!! not one other coach of colour to assist? just asking

Conrad7/20/2010 12:37 PM: Well i think this is one off the best moves that SAFA could ever introduce too the improvement off South African soccer, why not go one further and see at introducing a consortium off coaches within the PSL that can try and work together in maintaining that form off style that is being introduced, looking at improving ofa higher volume than just a selected talented few.Pirates, Chiefs & the rest would have one Vision at the end,you have players adjusting too different styles and following different tactics based on different mentors.This i think has contributed too the success off Rugby in this country and Spain ( Barcelona ) in the world cup.

Abie7/20/2010 12:36 PM: Why is Lucas Radebe's name is not mentioned here?

Jo7/20/2010 12:35 PM: I can only hope that our International players will respect local coaches as much as they did their overseas counterparts

Frank7/20/2010 12:35 PM: Bad news....

Mtura7/20/2010 12:34 PM: I've been praying for this day!! Shakes to comeback into the Bafana setup. The last administration gave him the short end of the stick. Now they need to be brave and sack the captain Aaron Mokoena, you know inability and bad luck are a destructive combination.

SAFA4life7/20/2010 12:33 PM: Finally some1 has their thinking cap on. Thanx Almighty for all this SAFA regime for thinking & not concentrating on bonuses. What is left is for all SAFA coaches to engage with their PSL counterparts to know a lot about their players, "Get it from the horses mouth".

mandla7/20/2010 12:26 PM: That would really be nice. Please can we stop with the Brazilian style of play. Plus we need to fire all those Brazilian assistance coaches in the national team. We really need to have own style, Mzanzi style.

Frans Mashabela7/20/2010 12:26 PM: Now this is what I am talking about. South Africa has been lacking the original SA identity when it comes to football, and this is the right answer. This was long overdue and I wish the focus should also be on having local coaches at the PSL level, people who understand how SA soccer is played. Feeding these PSL players into the national teams will make the whole thing easier. Failing which will infiltrate the result into the national team, and we wont have that desired solution. Nice move SAFA!

Big Paul7/20/2010 12:20 PM: People keep making reference to "SA Style" Soccer. What is that and what does that mean? Should we be talking about WORLD CLASS Soccer? Having watched PSL games since i was 10yrs old, I am not sure SA Style is World Class. Teams that did well and continue to do well on the world stage do not Hog the Ball, do not Run with the ball and do not do fancy tricks. SA style soccer is characterised by all these non progressive trickeries that get us 60% ball possession with little goal attempts! I say scrap SA Style and adopt a World Class style suited to SA players and stop worshiping ball players and start rewarding Performance and Results. Steven Pienaar can no do fancy football tricks like Teko Modise yet Pienaar is more effective and World Class than Teko. Get rid of the Teko Modise, Scara Ngobese, Steve Lekolea mentality and adopt the Jomo Sono, Phil Masinga, Doc Khumalo fottball mentality - No nonsense, results, intelligence and commitment!!! Dankie Siyabonga

CPP7/20/2010 12:16 PM: With over one billion rand in their pockets after the world cup, let's hope that for once SAFA will not waste all the money (Bonuses for themselves and crumbs for the rest of the soccer fraternity) but use it to develop our younger players. As far as the coaches goes, now is a time to deliver. We do not have the luxury of not having to qualify for 2014, we have to earn a spot in the final 32. Good luck to the new coaches and I'm sure they will do well provided the administrators don't interfere (as they always do) and mess it up again!!!

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