Dumitru sets record straight on 2006 Former Bafana Bafana coach Ted Dumitru has broken his silence on the national team’s dismal failure at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations. A lot has been said about the performance in Egypt, where the South Africans were knocked out of the competition without even scoring a single goal. Dumitru, who took over the coaching reins just before the tournament, came under a lot of criticism from the media and now, seven years later, he finally gives his side of the story. THERE WAS NO COACHING FAILURE AT 2006 AFCON Since there are still so many people who are unaware of the real reasons behind Bafana Bafana’s dismal performance at the 2006 AFCON, continuing to refer to that unfortunate situation as a coaching failure, I decided to provide the following factual information which would dismiss that wrong assumption. It will assist to understand what actually went wrong at that time. Here are the facts: On 14 January, 2006, Bafana played the last international friendly match against Egypt just a week before the opening fixture against Guinea. The game was won with an impressive performance which convinced the other opponents, foreign media and a lot of people in Egypt that South Africa has the potential to win the 2006 AFCON. Following the outstanding display in the game against Egypt, Bafana gained instant appreciation and full attention from foreign analysts, the members of CAF’s Study Group and the international media. The BBC crew, in particular – TV reporters and panellists – was following SA team at all training sessions and there was special interest on interviewing several SA players. As explained by Richard Fleming – a top BBC football analyst – the interest on Bafana was generated by the strong perception that the team has excellent players and an advanced type of football to reach the 2006 AFCON Final and win it. Little or nothing was known by those people about the highly emotional and destructive dispute between the players and SAFA on serious financial issue – far more than the bonuses saga. However, the killer blow to the spirit and winning objective of the squad was – in addition to other financial problems – the SAFA’s insane decision to cancel players’ bonuses for the win against Egypt which was an international friendly – the bonuses were stipulated in the players’ contracts with the Association. The status of the game against Egypt was arbitrarily and, contrary to written agreements, demoted to a practice game for which there are no bonuses!! That decision led to hostility and complete loss of commitment and demotivation on the players’ side. From that point onwards there was no possible coaching solution to the crisis that would re-motivate the players to compete with determination and winning mentality. It was an irreversible psychological downfall. There were only a few days since Bafana delivered a memorable performance against Egypt and it was impossible that level of form and competitiveness be totally lost unless something terribly abnormal and unexpected provoked it. That was the end. Ted Dumitru
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:56:59 +0000