Posted in News on Sep 04, 2006.
Like us, Benoni began the season with a draw and I think they stunned a lot of people with the point they gained in their opening day draw against Ajax Cape Town. I will talk more about the game against Benoni later in this column and later this week, for the moment I would like to address issues from this past weekend, the first of which is to discuss Rowen Fernandez performance from Bafana Bafana’s game against Congo.
Once again I thought that Rowen played his usual professional and efficient game, although Congo did not test him much he was up to their challenge and he made two very useful saves in the second half, as he competes against tougher opposition Rowen’s toughness will come to the fore.
I did feel that with the way Congo were playing, which was with five defenders they were looking content with a draw and Bafana needed to introduce players who could have broken them down earlier in the game .
When Siyabonga Nkosi and Benedict Vilakazi were introduced to the fray they were a handful for the Congolese and were able to open up the spaces for Dillon Sheppard to gap into and have a dash at the opposition, which eventually landed up in Bafana scoring. Although the goal was disallowed the introduction of the second half substitutes changed the complexion of the game and the coach must be lauded for making the substitutions that he did in the second half.
I also had the opportunity of travelling down to Potchefstroom for the Olympic Qualifying game between Amaglug Glug and their Namibian counterparts, attending this game afforded me with the opportunity of watching Itumeleng Khune in action.
Itumeleng held his defence well together and was able to marshal his defence in a professional manner which allowed him to keep Namibia from scoring.
Travelling to Orlen Park where the game was played also threw up a chance meeting for me with former World Cup Winning Coach and new Bafana Bafana front man Carlos Alberto Parreira.
I found him to be a very well researched person, as he knew the state of South African soccer and he is also aware of the challenges that face him in his new role. The Brazilian has also studied the various clubs and knows the coaches and most of the players in the South African game. From meeting with him, one can clearly say Carlos has done his homework on South African soccer.
It is clear that he has a rescue plan, if you can call it that, for the national team and is not entering his new job with a blindfold on. He has been in the country for a few days only and he has already begun preparing the ground work.
On Monday I received an invitation along with the 15 other coaches from the PSL clubs to attend a special meeting to be held at the FNB Stadium later this week, with the new Bafana Bafana coach which I will most definitely attend.
To me that demonstrates the new coaches intentions towards making sure that every body is on the same page and that we all are of what his expectations are from us and vice versa.
In my fifteen months in South Africa I have seen a couple of national team coaches go through the offices of SAFA, none have opened up lines of communicating with the PSL coaches. Parreira has from the beginning started creating a warm relationship with the men who over the next four years can help make his stay in South Africa a successful one.
After having spoken to Mr. Parreira I do believe that South Africa have hired a coach who wants to help this country go places in international soccer, we can all learn a thing or two from him as he has thus far carried out his work in a meticulous fashion.
He did say that he would be travelling to Berlin shortly for a post 2006 FIFA World Cup conference which will be attended by the men who coached the thirty two teams in Germany during June and July, he is planning to set himself up by the end of October when he believes that his work will begin in earnest.
Back to matters Chiefs: at the moment we are in a favourable position as we are virtually injury free going into this weekend's game with Benoni Premier United.
One of our more serious injury worries Thabo Mooki began full training some time last week, he has continued training with the rest of the team without any discomfort and as it stands we are only awaiting the return of David Obua who was away playing with the Ugandan national team.
From the information I have, I do believe that David will be with us on Tuesday morning for training, apart from David we have a full team to select from which obviously is good for us going into the weekend.
With the season back in full swing I will once again commence with addressing the supporters three times a week so I will talk to you all again on Wednesday.
Till then keep up the support and get ready for Sunday’s game
Yours in the beautiful game
Ernst Middendorp
