Subject: World Cup Qualifying

Thanks. :) The preparations are done. I'm away this weekend, so I doubt I'll be able to be on-line for the match.

I figure a win is required. Even if we win, we probably still need a little help. A draw or worse, and we'll need a lot of help to qualify.

No suspensions, only a couple of SIs. Form is also pretty good. Roberts has bounced back nicely, and Mabizela is in his best form in seasons (still mid-range).

Heehee. I clicked it off in the 90th. Seems I missed a goal. :P

Disappointing result. But the better team won.

I was happy with South Africa's tactic. I was expecting aggressive 4 at the back, and width in their attack. Think it was countered reasonably well. Had their offensive players covered reasonably well, and our offensive players in some space. South Africa just didn't play well enough - and not as well as in the previous meeting. Too many missed tackles and fumbles. Some poor passing and execution in the offensive end.

I really wanted to use Chacko instead of Khambule as the wing "feeder". The pass towards the sideline is a difficult one. I hoped Khambule could pull it off, and felt his better pace and tackling was necessary. But he just couldn't hit his man with any regularity. When he did, Mabizela often had a positional advantage, but wasn't able to parlay this into many chances.

Neither striker had a great deal of opportunity, but Mapela made a hash of most every pass sent his way. Discouraging.

I'm used to better play from the defense. The first penalty was conceded on a front-on tackle ... unusual occurence from our backline. Goliath took his red card after two different fumbles in the box let the ball fall to the opposition. Roberts really the only player who had a good match.

There were spells when South Africa played well - and not coincidentally, these were stretches where the South African defense attempted constructive play with the ball. For too much of the match they kicked the ball out without so much as a glance upfield. Means constant pressure when you do this. I feel I've spent most of my Sokker career trying to build tactics that will encourage defenders to keep the ball in play, and I still don't have it figured out.

Anyway, the loss is bad. And the 2 goals conceded in the last 3 minutes don't help any. South Africa isn't eliminated yet, but it would take a fairly specific combination of low probability results to make the cut.

I liked the innovative formation. Pity the players weren't up to par. Khomane had little effect, those fumbles and mistimed tackles at the back weren't fun to watch, and the front bunch had difficulty breaking through to create chances. I did like the passing play out of the back, to Baloyi - Khambule - Mabizela.

Funny how the result could've been worse (2 saved penalties) and better (with about 20 minutes to go we were on the attack and a good cross-finish combination could've seen us go level at 1-1.

Agree. Too many fumbles. Roberts only player that played well. The 4-0 scoreline didn't do us justice. 2-0 or 3-0 would have been a better reflection in my opinion, but the red card didn't help.

In retrospect, I wish I'd played Mabizela in Khambule's spot, and used J Sait on the wing. Sait would never make a cross, but would have earned some throw-ins and freekicks with his better technique and form. Of course, this is only something I would consider doing looking back. Starting a striker on the wing when you have a winger like Mabizela is pretty tough to justify. :D

All set for this weekend. I apologize, but once again I will be away. :S Just heading out for a 7 hour drive to attend my Uncle's birthday party. I won't be home until Sunday evening.

Big challenge this weekend. Need 3 points against USA to keep any hopes of qualifying alive. Although team form is good, there are a few key players that are a little off form. I've let form guide the selections a little more then usual this week. Goliath is suspended - which sucks. Though he wasn't sharp last week, he would really be useful against USA.

Good luck with the selections! I think form affects performance far more than we realise. A case in point is Baloyi's shocking performance for my team this weak.

Superb effort, Seca. Pity we didn't get the result, but the USA had to work very hard for that 1-0 win. If only Sait could shoot as well as he does the rest of his job.

I'm obviously biased, but I thought that game could have gone either way. USA was held to just two good scoring chances. South Africa had at least 3 of what I consider high quality scoring chances. Could easily have been a draw or South Africa win.

Even though I got it wrong. :) The defense was set for 2 strikers against (part of the reason why USA found a seam up the middle for the their two good scoring chances). Though I expected 2 strikers, I considered it a big favour from the USA playing just 1 striker against. I don't really get why heavy favourites play wide 1 striker formations. The underdog is almost certainly going to play 5 wide. USA's tactic gave us a reasonable chance. If only I could have reversed our tactics in the two matches (I planned the defense for 1 striker in the earlier match up).

Most every South Africa player had a good match. The defense was sufficiently sharp that Goliath really wasn't missed (they were WAY better then last week against Brasil). As you pointed out, it would have been nice if J Sait could have got something on target. Without any other committed offensive player, I felt his tech was necessary to try to generate some offense. Ideally I would have subbed him off and given a better trigger man a chance (especially because Mabizela was getting some crosses in), but all 7 orders were used for red-card coverage (the 6 defenders and the lone striker). I felt this was more important then getting a different look up front. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have covered Mulekelayi (if he gets sent off, things are likely beyond repair), which would have allowed me to sub the striker.

I haven't checked the other result yet, but I think all but the most outlandish qualification permutations are closed now. Playing for pride from here on. :)

WC Qualifying continues this weekend, with South Africa having the week off.

Match of interest is Brasil - New Zealand. If Brasil wins, then South Africa finishes 3rd regardless of next week. Being 4 points back of 2nd with 1 match remaining obviously precludes South Africa from advancing (a 3rd place finish in a group of 5 will not get one of the top 3rd spots).

Well, down to the final week of qualifying. Not much drama left. We are pretty much locked into 3rd placed (so long as New Zealand doesn't beat us by 10). Won't be qualifying. Playing for pride. :)

Will still do our best to get the result. Line-up is set. Once again, let form dictate a little more then I usually do. Has meant a couple of changes in what has been my usual core group.

I like that form has such a big effect on the players' performances, and that should rightly affect selection. I'm not so happy about how long players stay out of form though. It can almost be like a career ending injury sometimes!

All the best for today's match. Looking forward to it as always.

Ugh. Another one. I don't know where the offense has gone. Strikers won't shoot. Wingers won't cross. Didn't create a single good scoring chance against a porous defensive tactic. Frustrating.

I thought we had a tactical advantage in this one. Looked like our strikers would knife right through those gaps in the NZ defense. Had middies angled right to spring 'em. Just didn't happen. Passing, again, was poor. Couldn't hit the holes. Few times they did, couldn't bust the tackle.

On the wrong end of tech vs. tackle it seemed. Lost alot of the battles.

Unfortunate that the "finesse" pass so often fell to Khomane. It's not the way the tactic is supposed to work. He's supposed to feed Mabizela and Chacko, not the other way round. Part of the reason the offense sputtered was because the DM was trying to be the creative genius.

In the end, they had more quality chances, sharper players and deserved the win.

That sounds exactly what I was thinking. The way the tactic worked out, it relied on Khomane to create the chances. He often seemed to pick the right pass, but was very poor in execution.

The strikers tended to end up with possession too far out and hardly ever beat a tackle.

Why Mabizela didn't cross that one time he got almost all the way to the goal line, I have no idea.

On the plus side, Mapela's pace look dangerous when he came on late in the game.

With Chacho getting on in years, we really do need a top quality creative midfielder.
I'm probably going to spend a good part of next season training defence, until I get Rapeane maxed, but will probably start focusing on playmaking after that. Maybe I can do some work on a creative midfielder for the future.
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Agreed on Chacko. It pains me a little to play him. He's completely 1 dimensional. Can't run. Can't contribute to the defensive effort. He's got to be in space (or dead ball) to get anything done. If Khambule had been in better form (or if the offensive had been clicking better in recent weeks) Chacko wouldn't have played.

The throw-ins didn't work quite right. They all went to Khomane, which was wasn't really what I intended. Tactically, I thought that's what hurt the most (he still could have returned the ball to the thrower as often is done instead of trying to pick someone out himself). The strikers could have been a little further upfield too, but I kinda liked where they were positioned. They were close to the defense, and able to run onto balls. Problem was we didn't get through balls, but air or short balls the strikers couldn't do much with.

Offensive midfield is a bit of a question mark moving forward. Fish is promising, but he's not there yet and there isn't much else besides him.

There's a transfer topic for 20 year old Sazi Mkhize. He looks like he'll end up being better than Fish with training. Patrick Dafel looks similar to Fish, but a year older at 23. Letebe will get training from me, but he's a good candidate for Khomane's defensive mid role, I'd guess.

I don't see anything else yet amongst the youngsters. Of mine, Wade Zulu has exceptional potential. His playmaking is very low though and it's going to take some time to improve that and his pace.