Soccer is dead

If it wasn't for the World Cup that was on our doorstep, then last night's Bafana game against Guatemala was for sure the final blow to my recent soccer interest. Even before the match started I was amazed at one of the commentator's (an ex-Bafana player) insight into soccer when he was asked what the approach of the South African team against Guatemala would be. "Uh, I think, uh, their approach will be to impress the coach and to score as much as possible". Duh! What a brain wave! Don't they all try to score as much as possible? I thought rugby players give useless comments before and after games, but this takes the cake. It was the same guy who claimed after South Africa's 3rd goal that South Africa is definitely "a team of world class". We were playing against Guatemala you moron, we were supposed to look good against them, they are about a 100 places ranked below us! The score should've been 10-1!

Before I get back to the game, the world rankings still have me puzzled. We tie against Bulgaria and move up seven places, but we beat Colombia which were even higher on the rankings than Bulgaria and don't move an inch, or did FIFA forget to update the list? Anyway, I am sure there is a good explanation for that. What I don't think there is an explanation for is why the last two games featured the dumbest referees in Africa? Two penalties that was given when it should not have even been close to a penalty. And what makes it even more ridiculous is how self-asured the referee was after he made those rediculous calls. You looked dumber than the commentators, Mr Ref!

Something else that put me off a bit was the way the Bafana Bafana players were bouncing on their arses after they scored their second goal. I know that fancy rituals have become synonymous with soccer games and scoring, but scrubbing your butt on the grass like a dog with worms after you've just scored against the weakest team you'll ever play against this year is beyond me. Score against Mexico or Brazil and then you can undress and eat the grass for all I care, but why get so excited when you score against a team that the Soweto Secondary School's 3rd team could beat? 

The only person I still have respect for was the coach, Mr Parreira. Even while his cronies next to him and the other players that were not on the field at that time, were jumping of joy every time Bafana scored, his facial expression was unchanged. You see, Mr Parreira knew that beating Guatemala was not the main objective of this game. It was to give the guys exposure and training before the World Cup, and to choose the best players for the final 23. I could see that Mr Parreira looked a bit worried. Not only are the Bafana Bafana players not "world class" as claimed my our moron commentator, but when they started shooting goals from any point of the field and at every opportunity they lost all their credibility. After they figured out they have no chances anymore of losing against this 114th ranked team, they did this exactly as our clever commentator predicted, tried to "impress the coach". Well, you did not impress me and I am sure you did not impress the coach either.

The last 40 minutes of the game I missed, I fell asleep. I will watch another game when the big guns play, but for me, last night's game ruined my enthusiasm to learn the game and to change into a soccer lover.