March is shaping up to be a moerse month for South African football, on and off the pitch.
With news that the South African Football Association (Safa) are set to bring legendary French coach Arsene Wenger to our shores in the hopes of improving Mzansi’s global competitiveness, we may soon have a regte plan for the game.
Wenger, Fifa’s chief of global football development, last year compiled a report on how to transform diski and now Safa president Danny Jordaan is ready to learn from the master to plot out the next eight years of development.
The Frenchman has of course been credited with changing the game when he arrived in English football in the mid-1990s and has had a lasting impact after his 22 years in charge of Arsenal.
His knack of unearthing gems for his successful Gunners teams tells me that we could get some real value from Wenger’s knowledge.
Le Professeur has a special affinity for the African game too.
Nigeria legend Nwankwo Kanu, Cameroon aces Lauren and Alex Song, Ivorians Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor became household names during his reign.
And he also put Africa’s only winner of the Ballon d’Or and Fifa World Player of the Year Award, George Weah, on the map.
Last year, the 73-year-old Frenchman copped some flak for comments on African football, when he said of France star Kylian Mbappe: “If he’d been born in Cameroon, he wouldn’t have become the striker he is today.
“There’s Europe and there’s the rest of the world. The latter needs help, otherwise, we’re going to miss a great deal of talent.”
I didn’t get how his comments on ESPN got mense blaffing like the meanest dog on the block.
What he was saying was that if Africans were given the same standard of training as their European counterparts, then us South African fans wouldn’t be so bitterbek.
Safa president Danny Jordaan says Fifa's chief of global football development Arsene Wenger may be coming to SA next month to share wisdom on development, grassroots football. Safa among 200 FAs who have signed up for Fifa's first ever Talent Development Programme.@City_Press pic.twitter.com/w3DZMtg8Pi
— Tiisetso Malepa (@TiisetsoMalepa) February 23, 2023
Identifying and developing talent, with the scientific disciplines of compiling and analysing performance data are key aspects Wenger has said South Africa must improve to have any hopes of competing with the big boys again.
Arsenal fans will tell you that Arsene knows.
But I can’t help but feel sceptical about him working with Safa.
We’ve been here before with Vision 2022.
That plan was supposedly based on Germany’s blueprint for rebuilding their national game post-2002, culminating in their 2014 World Cup victory.
It’s 2023 now and it seems like we hardly went anywhere in the last decade. If anything, it feels like we’re only going backwards.
Another big issue Wenger pinpointed as a problem in SA football was the disconnect between our FA and the PSL.
And here, I’d love to see how this works out.
Current Bafana Bafana boss Hugo Broos has been calling to meet with the PSL and club coaches, but the Belgian’s words have fallen on deaf ears
He has also spoken about the need for an all-encompassing plan to reinvigorate SA football like his native Belgium did over the last decade or so.
But Safa told him to apologise to the nation for saying that we are swak. Eish.
So what can Wenger do to change things?
I guess only time will tell if our leaders can, one, get serious about their job and, two, follow through with the plan.
Depending on the timing of his trip, Wenger may be here for the buildup of Bafana’s Afcon 2023 qualifier double-header against Liberia.
Win those two games on the 24th and 28th, respectively, and SA will book their place for the tournament in Ivory Coast at the start of next year.
Broos will be preparing to announce his squad pretty soon and it’s going to be interesting who is going to call up.
Outside of the PSL leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, there have been few consistent performers all season.
And that means Broos may be set to name a number of players who haven’t played together before, which isn’t helpful when you’re trying to build a team.
It does, however, mean that manne in form can force their way into his plans.
And I’m obviously going to namedrop Stellenbosch goal machine Iqraam Rayners now.
🎵 𝑶![CDATA[]]>𝒖![CDATA[]]>𝒓 𝒏![CDATA[]]>𝒖![CDATA[]]>𝒎![CDATA[]]>𝒃![CDATA[]]>𝒆![CDATA[]]>𝒓 𝒏![CDATA[]]>𝒊![CDATA[]]>𝒏![CDATA[]]>𝒆. 𝑮![CDATA[]]>𝒊![CDATA[]]>𝒗![CDATA[]]>𝒆 𝒉![CDATA[]]>𝒊![CDATA[]]>𝒎 𝒕![CDATA[]]>𝒉![CDATA[]]>𝒆 𝒃![CDATA[]]>𝒂![CDATA[]]>𝒍![CDATA[]]>𝒍 𝒂![CDATA[]]>𝒏![CDATA[]]>𝒅 𝒉![CDATA[]]>𝒆'𝒍![CDATA[]]>𝒍 𝒔![CDATA[]]>𝒄![CDATA[]]>𝒐![CDATA[]]>𝒓![CDATA[]]>𝒆 𝒆![CDATA[]]>𝒗![CDATA[]]>𝒆![CDATA[]]>𝒓![CDATA[]]>𝒚![CDATA[]]>𝒕![CDATA[]]>𝒊![CDATA[]]>𝒎![CDATA[]]>𝒆 🎵
— Stellenbosch FC (@StellenboschFC) February 26, 2023
Iqraam Rayners has netted 5️⃣ goals in just three matches since returning home 🔥#StellenboschFC #ProudlyStellenbosch 🍇 #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/2e51EbQHKx
After coming back to the Danie Craven Stadium at the start of last month and scoring five goals in three PSL games, he can’t be ignored.