Phil Masinga has died

[R13...]

I wonder what's happened, there wasn't even formal development structures back in those days. Players from back then seemed like just natural talent who got discovered and nurtured through. Doesn't help that we then developed formal grassroots structures and then destroyed them through, ineptitude, corruption and SAFA's habit of using them as jobs for pals schemes. Even the big clubs aren't really doing much - not sure the Diski thing works, but schools football, local level and lower seem to have died out.

 

[TheChamp]

I wonder what's happened, there wasn't even formal development structures back in those days. Players from back then seemed like just natural talent who got discovered and nurtured through. Doesn't help that we then developed formal grassroots structures and then destroyed them through, ineptitude, corruption and SAFA's habit of using them as jobs for pals schemes. Even the big clubs aren't really doing much - not sure the Diski thing works, but schools football, local level and lower seem to have died out.

I also blame over-coaching, back in the days things were more laidback and players were free to express themselves on the field, That strike that Chippa took against Congo is frowned upon nowadays, my team Kaizer Chiefs is proof of this, they will pass each other right past the goal lines, no one seems to be brave enough to take any shots at goal.

Remember Thabo Matlaba? Remember the wonderful strike he had for Bafana, Pirates similarly don't believe in his type of play anymore, no more wingers overlapping and assisting the attack, no more crosses , strikers like Ryan Moon and Gabuza are getting irrelevant by the day in our new football, yet teams are still not scoring goals. It is safe to say if Phil was still young and playing he would also be warming the bench with our new breed of coaches.

 

[ForceFate]

It's the same teams that regularly win these international competitions. We are barley competitve in these compititions and that's a problem. I've always gotten the impression that the football fraternity in South Africa are arrogant thinking that we're good enough without really putting the proper structures in place to make us successful at international level.

And a lot of times, we refuse to acknowledge the fact that the game has evolved.

 

[stefan9]

International football teams barely play competitive matches against 10 different opponents per year. Having a large pool of opponents 90% of who you wont ever face doesn't make it more difficult than rugby or cricket. We're not even one of the top 10 teams in Africa even though we have better resources than most African nations.

Even if you don't play against them they still impact the rankings. Much easier to be one of the top 5 teams when you are only competing against 12/10 teams.

While there are 211 official teams on fifa's ranking list and 51 african teams. We are ranked 14 out of 51 teams. While its not great its not a train smash as some of you seem to be suggesting.

Meanwhile rugby only has 10 teams they consider for their rankings.
Cricket only has 12 test playing nations.