Paraguay beat Brazil convincingly this weekend, they remain in 1st position for the South American world cup 2010 qualifying group. The exact same Paraguay that came to the super stadium in Atteridgeville on March 26th and were handed a footballing lesson by Bafana bafana. I sat in the stands that night, every goal was crafted out of creativity and our finishing was top drawer, do not let the lack of local press coverage fool you, we were a world class team and Pereira’s plan was finally starting to unfold!

That magical night was Pereira’s last at the helm of a football side that desperately needs to perform on the world stage in 2 years time. In his place came a new man, A Brazilian successor. Too little time has passed to have an accurate estimate of how far we have been setback, but the initial signs are not positive. A glaring question in my mind is how did we conspire to lose the man who was finally able to extract the best of this ever underachieving side? It still seems very little was made of a man effectively dashing the hopes of an entire nation.

South Africans love football, it knows no bounds and as a nation it has an unbelievably high amount of viewing choice thanks to the high demand for top quality football.

This world cup represents an opportunity few countries will ever experience, it is a chance to replicate great tournaments and add a touch of uniqueness to it, I would love to believe we could draw on our energies and emulate a country like South Korea by capturing the entire world with a simple formula of enthusiastic support and beating the footballing odds, It does seem like we lost that opportunity when we lost the man who was in the first year of an excellent three year plan.

The main problem however runs deeper than our top level management. Football is a global language and even more so it is a way to captivate thousands of people whilst making a salary. To compete on that level however, you have to be good, the better you are the higher you climb. The lack of an effective youth structure has put us at a serious disadvantage. If a genuine football talent is spotted at a young enough age the possibilities are endless. The fewer structures you have in place, the more likely it would be for those talents to slip under the proverbial net. It is a problem which is well known amongst most local football minds yet never really seems to be dealt with.

On the plus side last year was a good one for the local premier soccer league after a sluggish start the climax was thrilling. The local partnership with local media giant Supersport is bearing fruit, The PSL was voted the 9^th best football league in the world recently and it could very well climb. Coupled with general sponsorships climbing to high new levels it seems we now have a platform to generate the best out of a football mad country. The talent is out there, it just needs to be harvested!