Following Bafana Bafana's failure to progress to the final stages of the COSAFA Cup, Supporters Club member Oupa Baloyi has given us a breakdown as to what he thinks went wrong with Stuart Baxter's boys in the tournament.
"As a rule, let me give Zimbabwe plaudits for winning COSAFA Cup. I feel gutted that Bafana Bafana were bundled out prematurely by an island team, Madagascar. Forgive my reference, but Bafana Bafana are the master of small things," he said.
"They perform with aplomb in petty matches such as friendly games but disappoint when it matters the most. But I cannot lambaste them much because they lost on penalties. They are like the lottery. There is no penalty expert.
"Unlike Zimbabwe and other nations, Baxter heavily utilised fringe and less experienced players, and, for me, that is great. We are shaping and nurturing future players. The likes of Siphiwe Tshabalala are in the twilight of their careers. Kudos to the Bafana head coach for giving youngsters like Siphesihle Ndlovu, Lebohang Maboe, and Motjeka Madisha a platform to represent us at the international level.
"Eish... I find it a bit hard to actually pinpoint what went wrong against Madagascar. The lads threw everything they had at their disposal at Madagascar and fought like wounded tigers. Luck was not on their side. If football gods do not smile at you sometimes, things will not turn out in the direction you mapped out for. But also, we are a bit poor in our final third. We lack that X factor that other teams have when it comes to that. Methinks, that is something that we need to work. Or maybe it is high time we rope in a striker coach for the striking department.
"Like I said in my previous response, Bafana Bafana take crucial matches frivolously and take the petty ones very seriously. Maybe we are cursed. You remember that sangoma saga that was once been bandied about in 2009. We cannot dribble those ones who have power vested in them by ancestors. Other than that, our coach Stuart Baxter is a very tactically astute coach. He used that game against Madagascar as a learning curve and from there, the results started coming. He thoroughly prepared a great game plan for those games we won."
What do you think of some of the points raised by this supporter?
