Bafana mature like good old wine

Bafana Bafana showed glimpses of brilliance in their game against Japan on Saturday in Port Elizabeth. For the first time in many moons, Bafana played with passion and renewed vigour, and this bodes well for tomorrow's game against the Reggae Boys of Jamaica.

Carlos Alberto Parreira, the returnee coach of Bafana, is quoted in newspapers suggesting that Benni should leave Blackburn and join a team where he will enjoy first team football. The coach should go further and propose to Benni that he must shed a few kilos. He looked more like a rugby prop in those new Bafana shirts. His "boep" or cooler box, looked so unsightly, I must add.

The coach needs to give other "fringe" players a chance to shine against Jamaica in a game that Bafana should easily brush aside their tame opponents. It's a pity the game is played in far away Bloemfontein, otherwise, I would gladly take them to 'Kwa Mai Mai" in downtown Jozi for a few rolls of zol. By the time they take the field, they would be "stone dead".

Bafana to bury the Japs

Bafana Bafana go into tomorrow's match against Japan in Port Elizabeth as underdogs.This should suit them. If the reported comments by Moenib Joseph, the Orlando Pirates goalminder is anything to go by, then Benni should put the ball at the back of the net a few times.

What Bafana Bafana should know is that defeat is not an option. Anything less than a win would be regarded as a disaster by the millions of coaches. So, let us see, how many goals they score and how they score them.

Acid test for Bafana coach

The upcoming games between Bafana Bafana,Japan and Jamaica, will certainly provide an acid test for the returnee coach,Carlos Alberto Parreira. These games will provide us, the real coaches,who always bark intructions from the comfort of our sofas, an opportunity to see how the players respond to the tactics of the returnee. Bafana have not tasted victory against the bigger soccer nations, not that Japan and Jamaica are amongst the heavyweights, but are well above us in terms of FIFA rankings.

The returnee coach has come out guns blazing, by firing the ill-disciplined Mabhuti Khenyeza, from Mamelodi Sundowns. The coach must instill a sense of pride in the squad and that they must respect the country's emblem, as if they care.

Now that the aspirant trade unionist(read Benni) has come back into the squad,the management must release to the public the proposed bonuses for the players ahead of the World Cup next year. This will assure the public and the management that no late night meetings take place, with ludicrous demands for more money.

You will recall that for Bafana Bafana players, playing for the squad has really nothing to do with playing for the country, but has all to do with the purse. Not a bad idea, considering the economic recession we all find ourselves in.