Football lovers want news on the game, not the suits 

The three teams that will cross swords with Bafana Bafana in the group stages of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals in December were finally revealed at a glittering event in Rabat, Morocco, on Monday night. 

Fans of the resurgent Bafana have been waiting with bated breath ever since South Africa qualified after topping their group, with a couple of matches to spare, and without a single loss, nogal. The loyal ones, with a bit of budget and some dough in this trying economic climate, are already planning for their trip to north Africa. 

Thrown into the pot together with Angola, Zimbabwe and Egypt, Bafana will fancy their chances of progressing to the knockout stages. In fact, there are higher expectations on coach Hugo Broos’s banging boys – they are already touted to finish what they started in the last Afcon in Ivory Coast, where they finished third.  

They are counted among the teams who could be there where the final is played in Casablanca. Pressure, pressure, pressure… 

Super fans Mama Joy Chauke and Masilo Machaka have probably secured their tickets as we speak. Maybe Mama Joy will hook up with her beau, Papa Joy from France, who seems to have been caught by the Jungle Fever.  

They’d probably hook up with Siwelele sa Masele’s Botha Msila, who, after failing to secure a flight ticket, once hitchhiked all the way from Mzansi to Egypt for the 2019 Afcon. You can bet your bottom dollar on his shower cap standing out among the fans in the grandstands in Morocco.  

While there’s euphoria, there’s also anti-climax coming from the Safa leadership that is riddled with squabbles, in-fighting, court cases, corruption and blows almost being traded at last week’s meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) . The name-calling, the threats and the swear words must be a cause for concern for sponsors and potential suitors.  

The sooner the NEC members learn and fathom that it is not about them, the better for our diski. The self-bestowed indispensableness and importance has really gone to their heads. We cannot be faulted for thinking that they are convinced that they are more important than the players and the football community at large. 

Fans don’t really care about these chaps, some from the back- of-the-beyond unheard of regions. If I may ask, what value are these guys adding besides gorging themselves in privileges and taking loans from the cash-strapped association?  

They have been grabbing headlines and quite frankly, supporters are tired; they are only interested in matters on the field. Fans want to know which players Broos is going to pick and the tactics he will apply at the tournament.  

True lovers of the game want to know whether tiny tots Mduduzi Shabalala, Mohau Nkota, Mfundo Vilakazi and Malibongwe Khoza will be considered – they are not interested in the old madalas in fancy ties and suits, some of whom have never kicked a ball in their lives.  

Said Broos after the draw: “When I look at our opponents for Afcon, I think that Egypt is the favourite to win the group. They didn’t do very well at the last tournament, they didn’t perform like everybody expected and they were very soon out of the tournament. But I think in the last year and a half they have built a very good team.  

“They did very well in the qualifiers, so they will be the team to beat for first place. 

“Then we have Zimbabwe again. This is the fourth time that we play against Zimbabwe. We are playing against Zimbabwe in the qualifiers for the next World Cup. We have them again now in the next Afcon. Zimbabwe is a neighbour of South Africa and it’s always a very difficult game for us.  

“On the other hand, in all the games we played already against Zimbabwe, we played one draw, and we won three times. So, winning against Zimbabwe is very possible.” 

Now, these are the kinds of news football followers want to know. 

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Kgomotso Mokoena