David says
South Africa have stars playing in leagues all over the world.
 |
|
South Africa
are one of the more capable African teams, and so could cause an
upset.
David Kemp
was born in Netherfield, and emigrated to South Africa later in
his life. He assesses South African's chances.
| David
Kemp - South Africa |
| How
is South Africa preparing for the World Cup? |
| You
may know that the South African team is known here as "Bafana
Bafana", but don't ask me to explain, it's too complicated!
Preparations are not going well and there has been much media
criticism of the current coach (Jomo Sono) and his methods.
As one paper reported last week "Bafana Bafana's pre-World Cup
training camp (in Durban) has become little more than a meaningless
knockabout". One of the problems is that a large number of the
players selected to the camp (32) are drawn from those engaged
in European club leagues and competitions, and are arriving
in dribs and drabs. Moreover, there has been considerable dissension
between past and present coaches and Sono is now running things
with a very autocratic style. Of four preliminary matches played,
South Africa has won one, drawn two and lost one, all in unconvincing
performances. The coach, because of the absence of stay players
like Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish and captain Shaun Bartlett - out
of the Cup anyway with an Achilles tendon injury - has had to
experiment with a lot of younger, and inexperienced, personnel.
Selection of the final 23 squad has been postponed until this
coming Thursday, then they are off to Hong Kong for matches
against Scotland and Turkey. |
| How
do you think South Africa will do in the World Cup? |
| We
shall be very lucky, or the team will have to raise its game
to new heights if we are to get beyond this Group stage. I should
be very surprised, given their lack of playing time together,
if they make the last eight. |
| Who's
your best player and why? |
| Our
best Player? Difficult to say from here, since we don't see
them in action in our local leagues. You can take your pick
from: Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, Pierre Issa, Aaron Mokoena, Benni
McCarthy, Hans Vonk (goalie), Delron Buckley but Lucas Radebe
(former Captain at Leeds United) is the most experienced although
he has spent most of the season on the bench. |
| What
do you think to the England side? |
| The
England side looks well balanced, given that many of the most
famous names in the Premier League (Henry, Vierra, Ljundberg
and so on) will be playing for their own countries but my own
view is there is a distinct lack of "strike power" up front! |
| Where
will you be watching the matches? |
| Thanks
to Satellite access, yes, I shall be watching but many of the
matches will be played at "odd" hours, as you will also experience
and the results may well be known in advance of re-screening.
My Golf Club has a Large Screen TV so, depending on my golf
schedule, I may well see some of them there. The local Pub down
the road (which brews its own beer) may also be a good venue
as it too has a Giant Screen, but, as I say, much will depend
on the scheduling and my personal interest will lie more with
watching England than South Africa. This applies only to soccer
- I am fiercely loyal to our Home sides in cricket and rugby. |
Read about our
other World Cup correspondents.
|
