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| Success story Benni Maccarthy during he's Blackburn Rovers days |
South Africa has for long been a dark-horse in terms of football all around the world, and it’s even a self-proclaimed "powerhouse of African football". What South Africa really is, it’s living in the past. I'm referring to the 90s triumph on the continent which not only saw us lift the Africa cup of nations, but also produce some fantastic players who became successful exports. The likes of Shaun Bartlet, Phil Masinga, Steven Peinnar, and South Africa's most lethal striker Benni Maccarthy who is also the only South African Player to lift the UEFA champion’s league. These players made their mark in Europe by showing discipline, maturity and passion, while playing for big clubs like Charlton Athletic,( Phil Masinga and Shaun Bartlet) FC Porto,(Benni Maccarthy) Ajax Amsterdam,(Steven Piennar) and the list goes on. These players where able to fly the SA flag in Europe till their early 30s, which is usually a retiring age for footballers, and the come and finish their careers in South Africa. That's not the case with today's players, the will go to Europe and fail dismally. These players can’t even secure a deal with a big club in Europe, instead they settle for teams in Israel, Sweden, and even Russia. Whats even more heartbreaking is the mentality of SA footballers, they are so desperate to play in Europe that they will settle for any team, even if it’s from an unknown country (in football) like Ukraine because at the end of the day its Europe for them. Even if they do play in Europe they only end up being bench warmers, which results in them moving from club to club then in the end returning to South Africa being less of the player he was before leaving for Europe.And the sad thing is he returns at the young age of 24 to 26.One such player is Bernard Parker. When Bernard Parker was playing in South Africa, he was delivering a goal a game for club and country, and then he moved to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia where he continued with his fine form. Then the club went broke which lead to Parker moving away. That's when things fell apart for Parker. He made moves to three different clubs, including European giants FC Twente, before coming back to South Africa at the age of 26 in 2011, where he has scored an average of one goal in 15 games and its resulted in him losing his place in the national team. I suggest players should be sure of their football pedigree before making moves they might live to regret.
We all know that our Legends such as Phil Masinga, Doctor Khumalo,etc loved football more than anything. So if we compare Our South African legends with the new team,we would see that wayback they used to play as a team because they loved what they did and now everyone play for himself. They have that mentality of wanting to impress our coach without realising that football is all about working together as a team not as to secure a place for the next game.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that annoys me is the Vodacom challenge.The tournament brings big European clubs to play against our local big teams.When the players play in the tournament the bring their A-game because they are trying to secure a contract.Then when they play against a local small club they bring their F-game.
DeleteAs they say in the U.S, "ALL ABOUT THE BENJIES"...South African players are chasing the money not the dream. Ever heard of the saying "Do waht you love and you'll never work a day your whole life"? The exact opposite of what our players are doing, forgeting that the money will follow you hence the settling of any team in countries that are'nt that recognised on an international level.
ReplyDeleteQuestion is who's to blame? Because somebody's head has got to roll...MokD