What a few weeks and months it’s been in South African football.
First it was the SA Under-23 side that impressed at the Rio Olympics in Brazil last August. Although they didn’t come home with a medal, Owen da Gama’s team nearly advanced out of the group stage with a memorable display against the hosts in a 0-0 draw.
On that night, the mighty Barcelona star Neymar was marked out of the game by Abbubaker Mobara, and even though there were stalemates against Iraq and Brazil, as well as a 1-0 defeat to Denmark, South Africa could hold their heads high.
Then it was the turn of Mamelodi Sundowns to bring cheer to Mzansi by winning the African Champions League. It was campaign written in folklore after Masandawana re-entered the competition through a technicality after being knocked out initially.
Pitso Mosimane’s band of warriors went all the way to Alexandria in Egypt to clinch the trophy and a first star on their jerseys against Zamalek in the two-legged final. That success also saw Sundowns qualify for the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan in December.
Just a few weeks ago, the good news story in South African football were Amajita, who made it through to the Under-20 World Cup in May after finishing fourth at the junior Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia.
Some of the brightest young talents were unearthed, including Luther Singh, Grant Margeman, Sibongakonke Mbatha, Teboho Mokoena and Liam Jordan.
And it doesn’t end there. Veteran administrator Danny Jordaan delivered a World Cup in 2010, but since then, had to put out a number of fires in the political arena during his time as mayor of the Nelson MandelaBay municipality in Port Elizabeth.
But he was also duly elected Safa president in 2013, and had to deal with the fallout of the Sepp Blatter saga with regards to the 2010 World Cup bid.
The 65-year-old Jordaan proved that he is a survivor once more by winning a seat on the Caf executive committee in the historic Addis Ababa elections a few days ago that saw Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar dethrone long-standing controversial Cameroonian Issa Hayatou as Caf president.
For once, South Africa are playing significant roles on the continent. But the “black sheep” in our football set-up is Bafana Bafana.
The senior national team still don’t have a head coach, despite Safa having promised a replacement for the fired Shakes Mashaba on a number of occasions.
Owen da Gama has been installed as interim boss for friendlies against Guinea-Bissau and Angola later this month.
Bafana last qualified for the 2002 World Cup, having gained automatic entry as 2010 hosts. They also didn’t feature at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon as they didn’t get through the qualifying stages.
South Africa are ranked 62nd in the official Fifa list, and 13th in Africa.
When are things going to change? When will Bafana Bafana be the inspiration for South African football?
The speculation around who the next coach will be has reached unprecedented proportions, to the point that we are all just sick and tired of it all.
C’mon Safa, get your house in order. You can do it – as shown by the performances of the age-group teams, and Bafana in the past.
The long-term strategic plan at the moment is Vision 2022, but the immediate focus has to be getting to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Let’s make Bafana great again.