Posted in News on Sep 14, 2005.
Fernandez, fresh with the knowledge that consistency is the key for him to continue his upward spiral and stake his claim to the number ONE jersey in the years leading up to the World Cup in 2010 when Bafana Bafana as hosts qualify automatically. Kaizer Chiefs. Com roving reporter Yusuf Muhammad caught up with Rowen Fernandez while he was on the physio’s table at the Kaizer Chiefs village in Naturena after a grueling training session to discuss Bafana Bafana, Golden Arrows and Mamelodi Sundowns.
Yusuf Muhammad: The past week must have been one of varied emotion as you played a good game on Sunday but the national team results were not what the nation wanted?
Rowen Fernandez: Soccer is a game where emotions change sometimes every minute and sometimes over days. Look at Orlando Pirates last season - there was a time when they were in the lead even on the last day of the season, but after ninety minutes, Chiefs were the champions of the country. There can be no hiding the fact that the nation were let down by the results, but one cannot point fingers at any one person and say that he was to blame. There are a number of factors that lead to a team performing below what is expected of them.
YM: Do you think that had you been in goal instead of Hans Vonk - you would have done a better job?
RF: The thing is that Hans is a great goalkeeper and one cannot run him or his abilities as a goal minder down. You are as good as how well your defence performs - if they don’t get it right things won’t go the same way for you. The first goal was a lapse in defence, a the second one was total miscommunication and the goalkeeper was at the mercy of the Burkina strikers. We all know what happened next. So I cannot say it would have been better if I was in goal – maybe it would have been worse if I had played. I don’t know -but sometimes you as a player must know and do what is going to benefit the team.
YM: For Hans Vonk this is probably the end you still have time on your side for the 2010 World Cup do you think that you can make the jersey yours over the next couple of years. Who do you see as your major competition for the number spot when the world cup comes about in 2010?
RF: Yes I do have time and I think that I have already taken steps in ensuring I am on target for that goal. In the past two seasons I went head on with Brian Baloyi and won the battle which boosted my confidence as a player, I was part of a team that won the league in my next few years with Chiefs we need to continue our dominance of the league and than I need to go and play in another part of the world for my game to grow and be one of the most recognized and sought after keepers when 2010 rolls into town.
YM: Who will be your most serious challenger?
RF: Calvin Marlin but I do think age might be against him others are Francis Chansa, Thabang Radebe who definitely have time with them and they will develop into great goalkeepers. Also Moneeb Josephs and our own Emile Baron he has over the years developed as a player playing in Norway helped him and he had a few hiccups with the national team before but he will use that experience to help him in the future.
YM: Do you think that there are any players at Chiefs who deserved to be in the national team over the past few months?
RF: I can only express my opinion and in my honest opinion I do feel that had Cyril Nzama not been injured he would have made a difference especially in the game against Ghana. I do feel the Scara Ngobese and Jimmy Tau deserve a chance in the near future and both could play a part in the next world cup also it might be high time that Thabo Mooki got a recall to the team he is playing good football and has been improving game by game. These are just some of my team mates I think can help there are others like Fabian McCarthy and Derrick Spencer who with a couple more solid performances will be asking serious questions about their omissions.
YM: This week is a big week first Golden Arrows and than Sundowns, Arrows have down the years proven to be tricky opponents away from home. How possible is a victory against them in Durban on Wednesday?
RF: Over the past two seasons the team has shown that we are not scared of these records and so called hoodoo teams we have broken spells by beating such teams as Super Sport United and Ajax. Golden Arrows are big match players and always the tempo when they play Chiefs, Pirates or Sundowns. Arrows have a great striker in Mabhuti Khanyeza but that is about that and we enter every game with three points on our mind.
YM: What of Sunday’s game against Sundowns how crucial is victory in terms of our season’s objective of retaining the PSL title?
RF: It is extremely vital because we know when we play the other title contenders we need to take points off them and that way we hold the destiny of the title in our hands and not in anybody else’s hands. Taking three points off Sundowns early I the season leaves them chasing and it is better to be chased than chasing.
YM: Finally are you feeling on top of your game at the present time and how would you self-crit your own form?
RF: I am happy but I do see the window for me to improve my game and develop further my game and work on certain weaknesses that I have. At the moment I don’t have anything to complain about like I said I just need to keep on growing my game work on my good iron the bad with every game I will grow. We are at a stage where the team can be satisfied with the work put in thus far as we have played four games and conceded one goal to four scored which in my book is excellent taking into account that we have played more away games than home games.
