Ndumiso Khoza, News24 User
I have been very critical over the performance of Bafana Bafana in the last couple of months. Like all things, it is hard to accept any mediocracy from anything South African. And it is not even worth arguing that the South African national team performance has been a bit dismal in recent history.
This was not the case in the Nelson Mandela Challenge against the "Indomitable Lions" at the Olympia Park on Wednesday. After a run of successive results in their previous three games, many of us were encouraged by Bafana's run of form and believed that they had indeed finally turned the corner.
I was one of the people who really wished that this was true and that our ever disappointing team was finally getting back to the glorious winning days. I thought that it was a little premature getting excited too soon as I felt like we had not really been tested by opposition that was strong enough to warrant genuine veneration from the general soccer fraternity.
We were close against teams like Nigeria in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, but until we actually won against a formidable team, many would still wonder whether South Africa was ready to launch a serious threat come World Cup 2010 or even a reasonable performance in the upcoming 2009 Confederations Cup.
This win was not expected and something definitely welcomed, but more importantly it was great watching our national soccer team play with the kind of confidence and determination that warrants respect from critics like me as we once again see them play with the kind of passion and pride that is always expected of them.
South African supporters are the hardest to please, yet at the same time most of us are happy enough to know that our team did everything possible and literally played their hearts out for a win. And for the first time in long time we witnessed a hunger and will to win from Bafana that has not been witnessed in quite some time.
We should undoubtedly not be complacent in thinking that we are a 100% ready for the World Cup as yet. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but for once I feel that we might finally be on the right track. There a number of basics that we have to work on like our ball possession and defending free kicks and corners, but I am mighty glad to see the boys finally scoring goals again. A fourth consecutive win is no small feat and deserves some acknowledgement from our part.
I am proud to at least see Bafana holding their own against the Cameroonians and showing that they are capable of competing at this high level. There will be arguments that our opposition lacked the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Geremi, but there will be no denying the fact that we beat the number one team in Africa and a team some 60 places above us in the FIFA World Rankings.
With the Cameroon match now behind us, let us now hope that the team can build from such an inspiring performance and make sure that the world will finally sit back and notice that South Africa might have something to say when the World Cup finally hits our shores. Our morale is now boosted and we hope that "the boys" will not disappoint us any further.
I don't expect them to win every match, but to at least keep delivering performances like this week in and week out. I am sure that if they do that, then we will all be happy knowing that they performed to the best of their abilities and played with their hearts on their sleeves. That is all we can ever expect from them.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.