Here Comes the Snake in the Grass by Eric Miyeni

Author:Eric Miyeni
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Did Mandela work for nothing?’
ISBN: 978-1-4152-0598-3
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2014-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

35

Thank you, Parreira

We all know that we lost our chance to qualify for the group of sixteen in the 2010 FIFA World Cup by losing our second game in the group stage. We were over-confident in that game and yet, unlike in any other game we have played under Parreira, we were flat-footed, we let Diego Forlán run riot when we should have choked him down as we did in the second half, we had no patience on the ball and we were a lot slower than at any other time in this glorious period of our football history.

But we rose to outplay and beat the French because we revived the spirit that was dead when we played Uruguay. On a blessed day we would have beaten the French 6–1. But the 2–1 result does not change the fact that we left the World Cup with our heads held high, having performed better than two soccer world champions (France and Italy), getting as many points as one world champion (England, 4 points) and being only a point behind another (Germany, 5 points).

What we showed is that we have heart; that, when we must rise to a challenge, we can; that, at our best, very few teams can beat us. We did very well in this World Cup of big upsets.

Now we must build on this. What we have done in the past is dismantle our teams too early. The class of ’96 still had a while to go before the chops and changes. All world-beaters change their sides slowly as they bleed in new and younger players. Everybody remembers seeing Diego Maradona on the bench for Argentina as a youngster; Lionel Messi was also on the bench in his first World Cup appearance; Ronaldo and Ronaldinho of Brazil did the same. If you look closer to home, you will note that the Springboks use that system too. These are world champions.

To do this in soccer we cannot chop and change coaches like children change napkins. At the very least, we should keep Parreira until the next Africa Cup of Nations. At the very best, we should keep him until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He had three months to help our squad. At one point in this very short period, we climbed seven positions up in the FIFA world-ranking ladder, making us the most improved team in the world. And I’m sure that we will be ranked even higher after this World Cup performance.

I don’t care about Parreira’s salary. Legacy projects have no price tag. He is the best coach we have had for a helluva long time. We should hold on to Parreira and stop being driven by empty pride. We should keep him, no matter what the cost, so that our boys can have consistency in order to emerge as victors. I know Pitso Mosimane would love the job. But if he really, really wants it and loves our country, he can wait. Let’s keep Parreira, people.

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