IT'S BEEN A CRAZY WEEK! Dean Furman on beating Spain for South Africa - and Yeovil for Doncaster. And his first EVER red card!

Iniesta in my pocket: Dean Furman

DEAN FURMAN was in the passport control queue when I got hold of him last week after South Africa’s epic 1-0 win over world champions Spain.

With the new FIFA rankings out on Thursday, 61^st-placed Bafana are expected to move up in the world, but for the 25-year-old Cape Town-born midfielder, this was simply: “One of the highlights of my career. A night I’ll never forget.”

Speaking on my football show BOLLOCKZ! on www.ballz.co.za, Furman laughed loudly when I suggested he had to allow Barcelona great Andres Iniesta out of his pocket for a second-half substitution.

Furman marshalled the World Cup winning Spaniards with some authority and Iniesta – scorer of the winning goal in the final at Soccer City in 2010 – was unable to repeat his heroics at the same stadium with Oupa Manyisa and Andile Jali creating a dynamic midfield trio for the first time.

Though our chat with Furman was rudely interrupted by passport control at Heathrow, his enthusiasm sparkled down the long-distance line.

With Furman and Bongani Khumalo playing for Doncaster Rovers and striker Tokelo Rantie now at Bournemouth, South Africa’s epic victory sparked interested in England too with Furman admitting: “Everone is talking about Bafana now. I’m still scratching my head about how we actually did it but in all honesty we played very well on the night.

“We had a game plan, we sat back and let the Spanish have it in their own half and when they came into ours, we pressed them, tried to catch them on the counter. We’ve got some great players going forward, with real pace.

“We knew that would cause them some problems on the night.

“Up against Alonso, Iniesta, Busquets, then Mata and Cazorla, it didn’t get an easier the whole night but it was a great spectacle, great to come up with a win.

“Against players like that you have to raise your game. Their movement off the ball is spectacular, they’re so clever. Communicating with each other was vital.

“It was unbelievable. For a very proud nation, there have been some disappointments, going out on penalties in the AFCON, not qualifying for the World Cup.

“This was a victory for the fans, the nation. The supporters were all coming up to thank us. It was a great moment for everyone. We can really build from here.”

Furman, who scored before being sent off in his first game back with Doncaster against Yeovil last Friday, grinned: “It’s been a crazy week Neal, great to get a goal and three points but gutted to get my first red!”

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 9am. See the Ballz channel on www.YouTube.com for our growing collection of interviews with the big names in South African football.

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal and Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.

BOLLOCKZ! is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice and how we are doing in using @thumperpigeon's R5,000 to make money for the Ball's charity WINGZ OF CHANGE.

Pick him or explain: Bafana boss Gordon Igesund's get out of Jali free card

Orlando Irates: Igesund has ignored Andile Jali

The little terrier in the midfield was 16 and playing in an under 19 tournament in Port Elizabeth when Clive “The Dog” Barker first spotted the unique talent that is Andile Jali.

That was in 2006 when no-prisoners midfielder Rino Gattuso was strutting his stuff for Milan in a very similar style. Jali, a scholar at Khanya Naledi Combined school in Itsokolele near Matatiele, came through the local All Stars academy on the border of KwaZulu Natal, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

Known locally as Cheese-Mnana, local coach Salathiso Ntabeni had him playing adult football from from the tender age of 15 at Hots Spurs FC before he joined Vodacom Soccer league club Matatiele Professionals.

Ntabeni apparently had to present Andile Ernest Jali’s birth certificate several times to prove there was no dodgy business going on in that Easter tournament in Port Elizabeth seven years ago. And within 12 months, Jali had been recommended to AmaTuks coach Steve Barker by his uncle Clive, where his talent was nurtured alongside Bongani Khumalo and Lerato Chabangu.

History tells us all three went on to bigger things.

Jali – often nicknamed Gattuso - is now 22 and has won SIX trophies since his 2009 move to Orlando Pirates, not to mention 11 Bafana caps despite missing the World Cup with a “minor heart ailment” which has not been mentioned since he was sent for specialist treatment in Florida, USA, in May, 2010.

Now the fairy tale has hit another snag. Though still incredibly young by international standards, Jali finds himself in the World Cup wilderness under no-nonsense Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund, who also overlooked him for the African Cup of Nations earlier this year.

When he picked his first squad for the Brazil 2014 qualifiers this month, Igesund went to great pains to explain why he had dropped his captain, Bongani “Mr English” Khumalo, and Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Thulani “Our Messi” Serero from his 23.

He told us Khumalo was suffering a “slight injury” and was only on the bench at Greek club PAOK. Serero’s elimination was even more damning: “He needs mental strength. During the African Cup of Nations he was scared of getting injured.”

But when asked why Jali, who looked like a world beater in the Confederations Cup as a lively teenager nearly four years ago, was not included, Igesund growled: “I won’t discuss players who aren’t in my squad.”

Bang. Off-the-record conversations with Barker, Pirates coach Roger de Sa and other well-connected sources offer no clear reason for this baffling Bafana boycott of one of the PSL’s most talented midfielders.

Perhaps, in an unnecessary interview with Kickoff magazine, these words from the little man himself may help to explain: “People do not understand me – they never will – and it’s not my job to make them understand.

 “I don’t know why, but a lot of people have a problem with me. Most people do not know the real Andile, they just know that I play for Orlando Pirates and because of that they think they know me.

 “I will not be told what to do by who think that they know me. They spread rumours that Andile is like this or that. Those who know me will tell you what kind of person I am. Those who don’t know me? That is their problem.”

These are hardly the words of a player eager to build Bafanesque bridges.

I have, despite efforts by phone, twitter and email, no searing insight in to the Jali psyche. He has occasionally slipped up, been accused of typically footballish incidents and upsets. One coach suggests he has a temper, there are whispers of a particular training ground bust-up and he was bailed along with team-mate Ndumiso Mabena on allegations of assault in 2011, though charges were later withdrawn.

But there is no career-damaging record of ill-discipline or no-I-in-team behaviour that I can uncover.

During the 2010 World Cup, where those heart problems saw him left out after a storming 
Confederations Cup, the German scouts in camp at Velmore near Erasmia also expressed a worry over his lack of physical stature. But as I said to them then, Lionel Messi, Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips are hardly giants.

Dean Furman, the super-fit Doncaster rover who has (unless you’re a Buccaneer) replaced Jali in Bafana’s affections, is surprisingly slight too. Both lack aerial power, perhaps their only weakness in the demanding defensive midfield role.

My view, brought on by Sunday Times Sports Editor Bareng-Batho Kortjaas’s column the day BEFORE Bafana’s rousing 2-0 win over the Central African Republic, is that Jali SHOULD feature in the squad.

When Furman was injured in a clash of heads and was forced off by double vision just before half-time in Cape Town last Saturday, Bafana suffered a 10-minute spell where Jali’s presence as Furman’s replacement was sorely missed after half-time.

Ironically, Oupa Manyisa – Jali’s Piratical partner – filled that hole when he came on and shape returned.

There are those who say Igesund is above critique right now, having – with just one win – restored hopes of a miraculous Brazilian crusade.

But for as long as Jali remains out of the squad, the question will continue to bug Igesund’s as-yet-unsecure tenure until 2018. It is simply not good enough to write him off as “not good enough” or to fall back on the tired old “I spoke to his coach” explanation.

And “I won’t discuss players not in the squad” will only further goad the typically bolshie Buccaneers, who point out Jali’s role in their recent double-treble reign.

The “get out of Jali free card” is in Gordon’s hands now. If Jali plays well for Pirates until the end of the season, Igesund MUST pick him for the still-in-doubt trip to war torn central Africa on June 7 – or offer a full explanation.

The black-and-white half of our footballing nation deserves at least that.

PS: Crystal Palace fan Ed Aarons, the former Citizen football correspondent now working for the Independent in London, offers this view on Kagiso Dikgachoi, the man Gordon prefers to Jali: "KG has been played out of position of late so hard to judge but lost place in centre to young Joniesta. Think best years are behind him."

The Bafana masterplan for 2018: This is the word of Gord

The way ahead: Igesund and squad

No point in being clever here. I'm just going to quote Gordon Igesund when it comes to the "2018 South African Masterplan" he unveiled to the SAFA technical committee on Friday morning.

Everybody I've spoken to said it was one of the most impressive presentations they'd seen in the game. A real, long-term plan for Bafana Bafana. Farouk Khan, a man who knows a thing or two about football development, described it as “something I’ve never seen from a Bafana manager before.”

We had a long talk with Gordon on SportsTalk on Talk Radio 702 and Cape Talk 567 with Udo Carelse. There's no point in me adding my comments.

IT'S THE WORD OF GORD

"It’s actually very simple, I had to put through a proposal suggesting the right way for us to go. 

“We had five players in our squad who played for the South African youth teams. The great football teams in the world have 22 of their 23 who progress through the Under 19 and Under 21s.

“This is the way we have to go with our squad. Our players have to be trained and programmed to play the system the way the national team plays.

“We have to do much, much better with our development. The Under 17 and Under 19 coaches have to buy in to our senior system.

“We’ve been through difficult times. We’re trying to get a quick fix sometimes, we’ve had so many national team coaches.

WINGLESS WONDERS

“The World Cup coach we had didn’t have wingers. The next coach wanted to play another way. The style, the system is changing too much. We have to buy in to a system we can identify with. For the next six years we have to stick to a certain style. The coaches must teach our players to use that system, that style.

“So when you get a player from the Under 23 team to the national team, he will fit in completely.

“Development can’t be done in one year. It takes 10 years, 15 years. The kids don’t have enough time to adapt. We really have to apply our minds, make sure we stick to this philosophy for the next ten years.

CONTRACT KILLER

“A week ago I was supposed to sit down with the president of SAFA but I ended up in hospital with an appendix. I’m not in a big rush to sign a new contract. I’m getting huge support, the new contract will happen.

“Indications are that it is exactly what they want. It will be no problem.

“I want a team that squeezes the opposition. We want to play 4-3-3 with three strikers, one very attacking midfielder. Against Mali we were outstanding, and Morocco. We had more possession, more attacks than any other team in the competition.

“We have great youngsters coming through, Mahlangu, Furman, Serero. This is not something new, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates play like this. Possess it, move forward quickly, don’t give it away. The blueprint is out there, as time goes on, people are going to be able to identify South African football.

“This is not a Gordon Igesund brand of football. This is South African. Like you can identify Dutch or German football.  We’ve got to hone it, play attractive football.

“We have to identify players too. We had a bit of a problem. Too many similar players up front. We have to develop it in our Under 17 team, show a striker how to play with his back to goal.

“We were the highest scoring team in our group at AFCON, not bad for a team that couldn’t score goals before the competition.

“You can’t expect to score goals if you only push forward three or four times in a game. For a team that hadn’t won in years in the AFCON, we changed things. That’s where we want to get to.

 IS IT IN THE GENES?

“High pressure. Sprinting. Stop, start. But we weren’t fit enough. I realised that was our problem. Our players have the fitness to run the Comrades Marathon but not the anaerobic fitness, the stop-and-start ability to keep going.

“That’s not naturally in our make-up. The short stuff. The 10m sprints. We’re not genetically built for that. It’s something we have to learn.

“We’ve been out of world football for far too long. We need to get it right from an early age.

“Our youngsters have to be able to play this way, a pressing game. Against Mali, we started to tire, we weren’t tight… they scored. And they won on penalties.

“We can produce world class players again. Look at our history. In the Confederations Cup, we held Spain. We’ve played the top teams in the world.

“The last 10 years or so, there’ve been so many changes. Too many short term fixes. Whether Gordon Igesund or Joe Soap is in charge, we have to develop our philosophy, work on that.

“In ten years from now, we’ll see a huge difference. Anaerobic training from a young age. Dean Furman and May Mahlangu, both playing in Europe, ran 15 and 16km in a match. Most only do 12km. And they were able to do 50 to 60 sprints, local players could only do 10 or 20 sprints.

“Tactically, we can’t play a squeezing game with our local players. We have to start scientifically get our players to a level of fitness. From an early age.

ON THE SAME PAGE

“Our junior coaches, our Under 17 and Under 21 coaches, we all need a common goal. Spain, Portugal, Germany… their squads, of the 23, each had 22 who had come through Under 17, Under 21. Each trained to play a certain way.

“My squad had 14 players who have never seen a South African youth team.

“We need to have the best coaches in there, people who have played football, know the game, able to work.

“Whether it’s me or somebody else, as head coach, I need to tell all the other coaches how we’re going to do it. For Under 20, for Under 23.

“Then all of a sudden we’re on the same page. This is hugely important.

“I’ve only just unveiled my master plan. I can’t reveal it all. There are a lot of names I’ve mentioned, people I’d like to work with. I know the coaches of want, of course I do. But it’s a bit early to name names.”

And there it is. In tablet form. The word of Gord.

This article appeared as my Neal & Pray column in The New Age this week. You can follow me on twitter at @nealcol, watch me on eTV Sunrise and eNCAnews every Monday - or simply go to www.702.co.za every night of the week, where I produce SportsTalk with Udo Carelse.

The Gord Delusion: Bafana's route to the quarter-finals is simpler than it looks

Goalden moments: South Africa waited 316 minutes for last night's goals

Bafana Bafana, fresh from their 2-0 win over Angola last night, face off against Morocco on Sunday in their final Group A clash. The game kicks-off at 7pm, simultaneously with Angola v Cape Verde at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

South Africa currently lead the group by two points with a game to go. A win or a draw will see them through but a defeat means qualification is not assured. The two top from each group qualify for the quarter-finals, playing the top two from Group B.

These are the permutations as coach Gordon Igesund goes in to a huge showdown with his supersub Lehonololo Majoro out of Sunday’s game with a gash shin.

1: If we beat Morocco we are through as Group A winners and play in the second quarter-final against the Group B runners-up (Mali, Ghana, DR Congo or, possibly, Niger). That takes place at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban on February 2 at 8.30pm.

2: If we draw against Morocco South Africa will qualify, but possibly not as group leaders. These are the possibilities:

a)      If Angola beat Cape Verde, Bafana go through as group winners.

b)      If Angola draw with Cape Verde, Bafana go through as group winners.

c)       If Cape Verde beat Angola by one goal, Bafana go through as group winners.

d)      If Cape Verde beat Angola by two goals, Bafana qualify but the side with most goals scored goes through as group leaders.

e)      If Cape Verde beat Angola by three goals or more, Bafana qualify as group runners up and go to the first quarter-final against the Group B winners at Port Elizabeth, 5pm on February 2.

3: If we lose to Morocco it could get nasty:

a)      If Angola beat Cape Verde, Bafana go through as runners-up on head-to-head result.

b)      If Angola draw with Cape Verde, we go through as runners-up.

c)       If Cape Verde beat Angola, Bafana are OUT.

South Africans worried Cape Verde may produce a “Portuguese handshake” on Sunday should not worry. Angola cannot afford to throw the game. If Angola beat Cape Verde and South Africa get a draw or a win, Angola would go through ahead of Morocco.

As for the rest, here’s the exact wording for what happens if teams end level:

In case of equality of points between two or more teams, at the conclusion of the group matches, the ranking of the teams shall be established according to the following criteria:
72.1.  Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question;
72.2.  The best goal difference in the matches between the teams in question;
72.3.  Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned;
72.4.  Goal difference in all group matches;
72.5. Greatest number of goals scored in all the group matches;
72.6.  Fair Play points system taking into account the number of yellow and red cards;
72.7.  Drawing of lots by CAF Organising Committee

Knowing defeat is unthinkable, Igesund says: “Against Morocco there could be changes because Morocco and Angola are totally different -  different types of players with different styles of play.

“A lot of people will look and say I made changes against Angola because I was panicking but I was not. I took a risk and it had nothing to do with panicking. It was the kind of team I put out to win.

That’s what it’s about, having a team that you believe in that can go and get the job done.
“The reason I took my jacket off was because it was hot out there and of course this is a hot seat, I promise you.

“There were a lot of nerves involved I in the opening 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, but I don’t think the players were as nervous against Angola.

“I want to say to every player, even the guys on the bench, that they stood up to be counted. We were under pressure but I don’t think it was unjustified criticism. We hadn’t been scoring goals and we know how people feel about that. As I said we just need to bounce back and these situations make us stronger.

“We don’t want to get too excited or carried away. It’s only one win.”

SCOTT CANNY, the marketing  manager of www.Sportingbet.co.za who will be on SPORTSTALK on www.702.co.uk, offers this analysis of the odds on South Africa going all the way to the National Stadium on February 10:

·       Bafana to win AFCON 2013

o   Before Match 1 (17/2)

o   After Match 1 (12/1)

o   After Match 2 (10/1)

·         Bafana were 11/10 to beat Angola last night and 12/1 to win 2-0

·         Bafana are 13/10 to beat Morocco and 21/10 to draw

o   This basically means we have a 40% chance of winning and 30% chance of drawing. So we have a 70% chance of securing qualification without having to worry about the other result!

·      

Gordon Igesund: I want Bafana Bafana to be a machine

At the double: Bernard Parker scored twice at Mbombela

“By the the time the African Cup of Nations starts in January, I want us to be a machine.”

With that exquisite phrase, Gordon Igesund ended the first chapter of football’s Mission Impossible last night. And the verdict on Bafana Bafana’s new era? Even the dimmest doubters must admit South Africa’s much-maligned football team have taken the first tiny steps on a rocky road to recovery.

When he took the job three months ago, Igesund was told he had several improbable tasks to complete: a place in the semi-finals of next year’s AFCON 2013 on home soil, qualification for Brazil 2014 and a return to the top three in African football.

After Pitso Mosimane’s chaotic reign, such targets looked unlikely. Some said impossible. Igesund took one look at the mission statement and said: “I’ll do it.”

And what was he handed as his opening gambit? An away game against five-time World Cup winners Brazil followed by a home game against Mozambique four days later. I remember our first chat after his appointment, Gordon asking me to spell “Maracana” at a The New Age Business Briefing. He hadn’t even been told where his opening game would be played, but he knew he had the toughest of starts, a footballing baptism of fire.

Unfazed, Igesund went to work… and the results of his never-say-never optimism are now available. A gutsy 1-0 defeat against the Brazilians was followed by a clinical 2-0 triumph over neighbours Mozambique.

On paper, that may look average. In truth, Igesund has already accomplished miracles. Remember, they took on an under-pressure Brazil on their biggest national holiday with coach Mano Menezes desperate for a rousing victory.

With Siya Sangweni keeping Neymar quiet and Itumeleng Khune pulling off five good saves, it was left to substitute Hulk to produce the only goal late in the game - but it was Bafana Bafana who took the applause from the 52,000 unhappy Brazilians as the sides went off.

Three days later, Neymar scored a hat-trick as the same Brazilians crushed China 8-0. Yup, eight. If that wasn’t enough to keep the doubters quiet, the people insisting “you can’t celebrate defeat”, then what is? It’s not as if the Chinese haven’t got plenty of people to choose from or enough experience when it comes to building bloody big defensive walls.

Scroll forward to Tuesday night at Mbombela. South Africa, having travelled 7,441km from Sao Paulo, came up against a Mozambique fresh from a 2-0 AFCON win over Morocco a mere 205kms away in Maputo.

Igesund knew he was in for a tough night. But instead of tip-toeing about, he dropped Friday’s man of the match Itumeleng Khune and risked a huge Kaizer Chiefs v Orlando Pirates civil war by putting Moeneeb Josephs in goal. The same larger-than-life Bucaneer who had retired in disgust when Pitso was in charge of Bafana.

And despite having lost Tokelo Rantie, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Steven Pienaar, Edward Manqele, Dino Ndlovu and Benni McCarthy to injury, Igesund stuck with the depleted squad who had endured the flight from Brazil. He declined the offer of reinforcements to keep the mood in the camp buoyant.

And it worked. Though many will question Mozambique’s decision to make eight changes from the side that beat Morocco – including Mamelodi Sundowns’ talismanic Elias Pelembe who scored one and made one in Maputo on Sunday – Bafana barely put a foot wrong.

Bernard Parker, the Kaizer Chiefs striker who opened the season with a four-goal burst against Amazulu, scored one early and one late to ensure a clinical 2-0 victory over the nation’s eastern neighbours.

Suddenly the doubters were silenced. Those who questioned everything Gordon had done – from getting rid of Thomas Madigage’s hat to leaving Teko Modise at home – were left without a leg to stand on.

His decision to select the unknown Dean Furman – an unused sub for Joel Santana’s Bafana against Australia in 2008 – from English Championship club Oldham Athletic proved inspired. Reformed alcoholic Lerato Chabangu, rubbished as a “coach’s favourite” from his days at Moroka Swallows, was magnificent in Sao Paulo and Mbombela.

The surprise decision to make Spurs reject Bongani Khumalo his captain worked like a charm and Ajax Amsterdam’s Thulani Serero once more showed the nation he could become the fulcrum over the coming months.

But Igesund refused to crow about successfully completing the first leg of his Mission Impossible. He said simply: “I didn’t want to mention this before the game, but we had to travel through four time zones for this game. The lads didn’t know whether it was day or night. Our sleeping patterns are all over the place.

“Look, it wasn’t a great performance tonight. We lost possession too often, we wanted more goals, but I have to say I’m satisfied. The bodies were tired, the legs were wobbling. I did a bit of rotation and you can’t fault the attitude. These boys showed true commitment.

“In the end, we did the job. The lads did great after just four days of training together. The camaraderie was good. You saw our set-plays out there. They were non-existent because we haven’t had a chance to practice them!

“But this is just the start. We’ve got Poland next in a friendly. Then I think we’ll play in the Middle East. By the time we get to AFCON in January, I want us to be a machine.

“We still have a long way to go. A hell of a lot of work to be done. But we will only get better.”