Johannesburg: The Cosafa Cup gave the national Under-23 team two important things – the honour of being the region’s champions, which should build their confidence going forward, and an opportunity to see what they need to improve on before going to the Rio Olympics. Here are five things that we learned from it.
1 Need for a vocal
centre-back
There is no denying that Tercious Malepe and Rivaldo Coetzee are two talented centre-backs with a bright future, but their reserved nature hurts them. Malepe is still getting used to playing at this level, while Coetzee is something of a silent leader.
The lack of a vocal leader at the back hurt the team during the Cosafa Cup, making them easy targets to exploit by getting the ball behind the defence.
Coach Owen da Gama stressed the need to strengthen the spine going to the Olympics. When he looks for an over-age centre-back to do that, the players mustn’t just be a good defender but a leader who can organise the back.
2 Goalkeeping
department
Reyaad Pieterse returned from Namibia with a report card that had a D for dismal. In almost all the four goals he conceded in the tournament, he was caught out of position.
That’s because he tried too much to fill the void of a vocal leader at the back, which saw him push up too much to issue instructions. But he didn’t exactly exude confidence, especially when he fluffed what should have been a routine save against Botswana.
Jody February and Nkosingiphile Gumede, along with the other U23 goalkeepers, saw limited game time with their clubs last season, which will probably force the technical team to choose a keeper as one of the three over-age players who can be selected for Brazil. Pieterse didn’t do enough in the Cosafa Cup to be one of those players.
3 Slow start
There are two ways to look at this. The optimists will see it as a show of mental strength, that having trailed in all of their matches at the Cosafa Cup the side had enough determination to come back and win all three games to finish as champions.
The pessimists will argue that they’re slow to get into the game, needing to be woken up by conceding first before they kick into gear. Regardless of this, the Cosafa Cup showed that the team must improve on how they start matches because against tougher opposition they might not get a chance to come back.
4 Strong attack
Judas Moseamedi fitted so well into the team. The towering forward brought a different dimension with his aerial strength. There is still captain Keagan Dolly and French-based Lebo Mothiba to add which will raise the U23s quality going forward.
The standards upfront are so high that Thabiso Kutumela isn’t guaranteed a place in Rio even though he finished this past NFD season as the top goalscorer with 18 goals. That high level of competition means that whoever gets a chance, raises their game because it’s so easy to lose their place.
5 Usage of Cosafa Cup
For a long time this tournament has put national team coaches and clubs at loggers heads. Clubs have refused to release some of their players, arguing they needed a rest after a gruelling PSL season. The coaches have argued that they needed to have their best players available because before Bafana Bafana can conquer the continent they need to be dominant in the region.
Luckily this year Safa came up with a good plan to send the U23s to use the tournament as preparations for the Olympics. This should be the template going forward, use the tournament as a launching pad for the next generation who are hungry to prove their worth. - Cape Times