|
We Will Do Well In 2010 - SA Chief
| |
|
|
South Africa national football team
(AFP)
|
Chairman of South Africa's 2010 World Cup organizing committee,
Irvin Khoza has allayed fears over the recent poor performance of the
national team, the Bafana Bafana.
Print This Story Send To A Friend Contact Us galleria zoom Khoza's comments
come in the wake of stinging remarks by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, criticizing
heavily the shoddy performance of the Bafana Bafana.
Sepp Blatter, who is on a four day working visit to the southern African
state, lambasted the team for failing to make it to the next round of
the 2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers, and also pointed out that time
was fast running out for the country to effectively put together a team
that would effectively compete at the 2010 World Cup.
Khoza however believes that the present performance of the Bafana squad
is in no way reflective of how they would perform when the tournament
proper kicks off.
"Football is a game of opinion and we respect his [Sepp Blatter's]
opinion," Irvin Khoza pointed out at a news conference on Tuesday.
"It's not the first time that this sort of thing happens to a host
country.
"France didn't qualify for the World Cup finals before they hosted
the event in 1998 and Germany were being written off before the 2006 finals."
Khoza also adduced the decline in the country's soccer team's form to
the lack of key players of the team in competitive leagues.
"Maybe that's why our national team is suffering, but we have to
give the necessary support to the coach to ensure we'll be competitive
in 2010," he added.
South Africa has only won once in their last eight games, and this has
consistently put Brazilian coach of the team, Joel Santana under pressure
to quit.
Goal.com,
9/17/2008
|
|
