Santana and the bigger picture

2008-09-10 15:28

Rob Houwing

Cape Town - Doubtless the anti-Joel Santana lobby sharpened their machetes with gusto as the embattled Bafana Bafana coach's win record subsided further in Atteridgeville to one from six.

No doubt, too, a clichéd volley of sexy, exotic names, planet-wide, will be offered up as possible replacement bearers of the poisoned chalice - oh, of course they-re all gagging for it! - even as the 2010 countdown clock warns there are not many more than 600 days to the biggest kick-off of all.

It was probably always going to be thus, after incumbent Santana suffered the dispiriting experience of two 1-0 international reverses in three days as Guinea, this time, profited on Tuesday evening from South Africa's own, richly-entrenched stage-fright or puppy-like naivety in front of goal.

Santana sat particularly impassively on his pitch-side seat at the Super Stadium, which wasn't exactly heaving with a super-sized attendance, probably resigned to the fact that his personal fate rests well beyond his hands and mindful that many will judge him all-embracingly on his currently severe "results" paucity.

They will be - or are - romantic and irrational fools. For one thing, the coach took the personally perilous, yet incredibly laudable step in the national interest - yes, the 2010 national interest and all that - by fielding an overwhelmingly second-string lineup.

He did not field from the first whistle even one of the starting XI so gut-wrenchingly beaten by Nigeria after their unrewarded exhibition of surprising panache, at times, and commendably non-stop fortitude and desire in Port Elizabeth.

Weaponry

Instead, he sought to test his "B" strength, to see if he could unearth some missing links or hidden gems. As such, he deserves no less than to have the Guinea exercise effectively scratched from his full-international "loss" record.

Santana will now know, with one or two exceptions, that in the squad who gave their all against the Super Eagles lies the nucleus of his - if indeed it stays "his" - weaponry in the 2010 lead-up.

Clearly the jury is quite entitled to remain out on Santana's long-term suitability to the Bafana task: this piece is certainly not intended as a tub-thumping, ringing endorsement of the Brazilian.

But I contended after Saturday that something appeared to be brewing, rather than the cauldron lifelessly filling with dust and dry leaves (a phenomenon not unfamiliar over the course of some 12 barren years). An experimental, decidedly low-key night in Atteridgeville did nothing to alter that view.

The Safa bosses, who have a near-criminal track record when it comes to respect for continuity and stability in the national coaching portfolio, could do a lot worse than tell the world: "Like it or lump it, let's all take a deep breath: Santana stays for the World Cup."

Time, after all, is beginning to turn impractically against yet another upheaval in the role. And as much as anything else, the established Bafana players probably would not be able to muster the stomach for yet another change of philosophy, yet another chalkboard ... yet another infernal interpreter, even.

Modest weight

No, Santana needs to see this through even if, along the way, there will certainly be further angst. This is a country with questionable developmental infrastructure, after all, a domestic professional league of often-insipid standard and consequently no barrel-load of clear-cut international talent.

We may simply, in 2008, be punching in our modest weight division. Only by painful and diligent process, not the idealists' Hollywood wand, will we advance out of it.

Jose Mourinho would not have been able to dissuade Lance Davids from blasting absurdly high over the crossbar from a fruitful front-of-goal position against the Guineans; no exhuming of a Brian Clough or Bill Shankly could have prevented Surprise Moriri's comedic slice across the face of goal - even giving allowance to his weaker left foot - when put clear at the near-post and at least "testing the goalkeeper" was a supposed fait accompli.

Santana may not be the world's foremost footballing guru but he is not Humpty Dumpty, either: by injecting SuperSport United winger Daine Klate and two of Saturday's starters, Siboniso Gaxa and Teko Modise, into the fray for the second half against Guinea, his charges quickly looked a lot more incisive and urgent collectively.

He has been reminded, too, that once-forgotten Matthew Booth offers depth among the central defenders, even if the towering stopper may not have done quite enough on the night to instantly unseat any of the "Three Ms" - Mokoena, Morris or Mabizela - from the first team.

It is true that Santana desperately needs a few 0-1s to turn into 1-0s; it would make his life an awful lot easier. At the same time, it was difficult to find glaring fault with his sober, unemotional immediate post-Guinea verdict: "Once again we should have won. The defence was very secure, the midfield creative. The forwards are just not scoring.

"We're closer to getting things right; we're going to work. We don't need much to turn things around."

Cool heads, gentlemen at Safa, please ... there is no Bafana Wonderboss out there.

- Sport24