Right now, South Africans suffer the futility of watching the World Cup without our national team being there. This is unacceptable considering the facilities and money that is in the local game. ThisIsFootball.Africa decided to get to the bottom of this. We spoke to former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Andre Arendse who pinned Bafana’s failure to qualify for the important tournaments, to lack of local quality.
Bafana did not have their finest evening on 28 March 2021 when they missed out on Africa Cup of Nations qualification after falling to a two-goal defeat to Sudan where they only needed a simple draw.
Again in 14 November 2021, the struggle to fail continued as South Africa’s 2022 FIFA World Cup dream evaporated into the night air after a controversial 1-0 defeat to Ghana at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium in Ghana.
A lot has been made lately of Bafana Bafana’s quest to make it to the World Cup and AFCON, something that has not been achieved since hosting the world’s tournament in 2010 and playing Africa’s tournament in 2019 in Egypt.
Speaking to ThisIsFootball.Africa about the Hugo Broos’ side, the 1996 African Cup of Nations winner had simple reasons as to why the team only excels in friendly matches,
“It’s about the quality of the opposition. Playing friendlies is very different from playing an official tournament,” the SuperSport United assistant coach explained.
“It’s that side of the game we have got to improve on, I mean the quality we have when we go to major tournaments, that will be important for our nation.
“It’s always difficult to take when your country is not in the World Cup. Players should also have a winning mentality.
“Even when you look back in 2019 in Egypt when Bafana went so far, beating the host nation, that’s the kind of the mentality we should have as a country.
Also Read: Ex Sundowns Star urges Broos to bring SA players abroad to Bafana
