South Africa – World Cup 2010 preview #3 (Group A)

South Africa

Appearances at World Cup finals: 2

Best ever performance: 3^rd in the group stage in 2002, going out on goals scored to Paraguay.

Famous moment in WC history: Tough call this one – despite only having played six games in the World Cup there has been plenty of drama. You can point to coming from 2-0 down against Paraguay to draw with a penalty in stoppage time, or the only World Cup win in 2002 against Slovenia. Or another stoppage time penalty to draw with Saudi Arabia. However, being the first African nation to hold the tournament will surely eclipse all of these when the tournament starts on June 11.

The Lowdown: Tactically, I don’t expect Carlos Alberto Parreira to deviate far from the standard 4-4-2. However, as a Brazilian, it will be interesting to see whether he employs the attacking prowess of Tsepo Masilela at full back, or opts for a more defensive option.

The midfield is likely to consist of a holding player (Fulham’s Kagisho Dikgacoi is the front runner for this position), with two attacking wingers and a creative player in the centre (potentially Macbeth Sibaya, who plays for Russian champions Rubin Kazan).

Now, on to South Africa’s prospects of getting out of their group. They face an experienced Mexico side in the first game of the tournament, and need to get a result. The key to stopping the Mexicans is to get at their midfield – a pressing game could cause the frankly lightweight creative midfielders (players such as Deportivo’s Guardado and the Dos Santos brothers, minus Jonathan). Having said that, Mexico will still be tough to beat – players like the experienced Torrado and Marquez, although they may not have so much creative ability, are quite willing to put the hard graft and strong tackles in.

The next match is against Uruguay, and this should be the best chance for the South Africans to get a win. They will certainly offer a threat going forward, Diego Forlan has proved his quality in Spain after his less than impressive spell at Manchester United, and the highly coveted Luis Suarez. However, the defence and midfield are solid rather than spectacular, so that offers South Africa a chance.

Finally, they face France, who are light years ahead in terms of quality on paper. Ribery, Malouda and Gourcuff are all top class players – and that’s just the wingers. However, Bafana Bafana (Zulu for Boys Boys) can take heart from the fact that the French are notoriously inconsistent. Their performances in Euro 2008 exemplified this (did anyone else watch the snorefest that was the 0-0 draw with Romania?). So, the best advice I can offer here is to hope that the French have a bad day – on top form they will give any side in the world something to think about.

To be blunt, South Africa’s chances look pretty slim. They face three sides that are clearly ahead of them in terms of personnel, they’re short of competitive match practice, and their coach, despite being vastly experienced, has lost seven out of eight World Cup matches when not managing Brazil.

However, the home nation has progressed from the group stages at every previous tournament – home advantage does seem to be much bigger at World Cups – and they should receive great support. I’m not expecting them to qualify – but I reckon that they won’t roll over and die like many of the pundits are suggesting.

Qualification: As the host nation, South Africa didn’t have to qualify. That, coupled with their failure to qualify for this year’s African Nations Cup, meant that they have had a distinct lack of competitive match practice. For the previous competitive encounter you have to go back to the Confederations Cup in 2009. Despite a fourth place finish, the results didn’t really indicate much – a win against New Zealand and a draw against Iraq were counterbalanced by a defeat to Brazil and two losses to Spain.

As for friendlies, the results have certainly picked up since the managerial change in late October. Since then, South Africa are unbeaten in ten games – though six were draws. Even with this positive record, the teams they have been playing just aren’t of the same calibre as the opposition that they will face in the group stages.  The wins came against Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Colombia and Guatemala according to FIFA, the best team that they have faced is the 30^th best team in the world, Paraguay.

Of particular embarrassment is the 1-1 draw with a Namibia side who aren’t even close to getting into the top 100 teams in international football. Bear in mind that the World Cup is roughly made up of the best 32 teams in the world, and these results do not bode well for the hosts.

All-time World Cup finals top scorer: Both Shaun Bartlett and Benni McCarthy have scored two goals at World Cup finals, both of Bartlett’s coming in a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia in 1998, and McCarthy netting against Denmark in the same year, and Spain in 2002. McCarthy is also the all-time leading goal scorer for South Africa, with 32 international goals.

The Manager: Carlos Alberto Parreira is in his second spell as South Africa manager, starting in November after fellow Brazilian Joel Santana was sacked following some very disappointing friendly results.

He is an extremely experienced World Cup campaigner, having managed in five tournaments with four nations, famously triumphing as Brazil coach in 1994 when Roberto Baggio missed that penalty.

He has spent most of his domestic managerial career in Brazil, winning titles with his beloved Fluminense and others, but has also managed Valencia, the now defunct New York MetroStars, and won the Turkish title with Fenerbahce. His appointment caused some controversy – the appointment of a foreigner to lead South Africa to the World Cup was unpopular in many quarters (despite previous managers including Stuart Baxter and Carlos Queiroz), and his vast salary in a country where so many live in poverty puts even more pressure on him to achieve.

Key Player: Steven Pienaar. Everton’s Player of the Year is going to have to replicate his club form if South Africa are going to get out of a tricky group. He is likely to operate on the wing, but will drift inside to get involved with play, and will be his country’s main creative force.

One to Watch: Katlego Mphela. The striker certainly has the technical ability to worry the best – his magnificent 30 yard free kick against Spain in the Confederations Cup in a two goal cameo from the bench proved that.

Expect to see him play a similar role in the World Cup, playing the last half hour of a game against tired defences, though recent form suggests he may win a starting role.

On the move?: Pienaar may possibly be moving this summer– if the current contract negotiations with Everton break down they may look to cash in. If he does go, however, it will be for a hefty amount of cash – I would imagine £10 million at the very least.

However, a more likely candidate for a move would be Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune. The 22 year old already has 24 caps to his name, and if he impresses over the tournament then a move to Europe would not be a big shock.

Group A, South Africa, World Cup 2010