Molefi Ntseki should be applauded for taking his failure to qualify Bafana Bafana for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations on the chin.
“The success of the team is my success‚ the failures of the team firstly start with me‚ to say‚ 'I have failed as a coach' because in football we need to own up,” the Bafana coach said in comments sent by Safa following SA’s 0-2 defeat to Sudan on Sunday.
By all accounts, this admission should make it easier for the people who put him in the position to get rid of him, as he couldn’t fulfil the mandate – which was to finish in the top two and qualify for the continental finals taking place in Cameroon next year.
But this is where the problem with SA football, and specifically Bafana, is. Fingers point at one man for such a momentous disaster, when it was engineered by others with hope that, somehow, the script would flip.
The fact is Ntseki’s installation as Bafana coach was not a well thought-out process. At a gathering some 18 months ago, people in the leadership of the Safa met and made a decision to replace Stuart Baxter with Ntseki.
He had served as Baxter’s assistant and had stints in the junior ranks. That’s just about it. Yet people in suits sat in some boardroom and decided a man with such a limited CV would be best suited to take charge of one of the most demanding coaching jobs in the country.
The spin sold to the nation was that this was done for continuity’s sake; that Ntseki would be building on the platform left by Baxter, whose team reached the quarterfinals of Afcon 2019, stunning star-studded hosts Egypt in the second round.
But in reality, Ntseki was hired as part of Safa’s cost-cutting measures. He must have trembled in disbelief when the call came through, that he was about to get his biggest gig in his clearly challenged coaching background. It is little wonder that his contract was finalised weeks after he had already accepted the job. Without even knowing the financial dues, it was an offer he couldn’t resist.
Safa had that year made a financial loss and hiring a coach who wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg was a good starting point at keeping a stable balance sheet.
It all seemed like a masterstroke when Covid-19 spread financial gloom across the sporting world, with sponsors withdrawing in droves. Salaries had to be cut and having a pliant coach who’s just thankful to be in the position meant Safa could approach Ntseki with a suggestion to reduce his salary, as many corporates had done. He would not resist.
Unfortunately, Bafana have now paid the ultimate price for all this cutting of corners. From questionable team selections to matchday tactics, Ntseki was exposed as ill-suited to the job. Bafana’s qualifying campaign always looked like an accident waiting to happen. Think of a learner driver attempting to stabilise a car at high speed on the highway. The inevitable crash finally happened in the last two qualifiers, where Bafana could manage only one out of six points.
We must take comfort in Ntseki admitting his failure. But the sad story is there won’t be any consequences for the people who put him there. He will serve as a shield to hide their sheer incompetence. And so the cycle of failure continues.
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