Editor's Column - Clint Roper

This week I'd like to talk standards and expectations. It has somewhat surprised me that Sundowns' 19 passes before their goal in the Nedbank Cup has caused so much media hype and fanfare. If anything, rather than seeing it as an amazing feat, I see it as quite sad that one 19-pass movement is perceived as something so special in South African football.    Now this is not a dig at Sundowns. I actually think they are playing some great football and Pitso Mosimane should be applauded for the way he has managed the squad this season, and, in particular, the way he has Teko Modise and Khama Billiat playing again. But, for me, applauding 19 passes by very well-paid professional footballers is akin to the passengers in an aircraft applauding when the pilot lands the plane (and I've seen this happen a couple of times). As a pilot, you are meant to land the plane. It is the job description. It should not be applauded as if it is an anomaly.    All footballers do, day in and day out, are passing drills, possession drills, retaining the ball drills, first touch drills, pass and move drills… and yet a 19 pass move is an anomaly in our league? How sad is that? What happened to stringing 44 passes together with 10 men against a very good Kaizer Chiefs team, like happened in 2007? Our Editorial Director Peter du Toit, who played for Cape Town City in the late 70's, has regaled us with tales where, when playing against Chiefs and Pirates, it felt like his team would not get the ball for five minutes at a time!    Now some might say that you don't often see teams in the EPL stringing 19 passes together that often, but the style in England is very different (and yes, there is a lot of turnover of possession) but the tempo of their game is far higher because of the lower temperatures. This allows the players to go a lot longer. The culture of the football in the UK is also very direct and usually involves the other team employing a full-field press. Here in South Africa, because we play in the heat of summer, our PSL is sometimes played at a walking pace. Most PSL teams allow their opposition to have the ball in their half and knock it around, and then tend to get behind the ball and employ a half-field press.   How often do you hear players from PSL teams who have come up against NFD teams saying that playing against NFD teams is harder because they press you all over the field? So I'm sorry to say, but I'm not sure we should be celebrating 19 passes as much as we should be expecting it from our teams. It should be the norm, not an anomaly, especially when you consider that the playing culture of Mamelodi Sundowns is a slow possession game. 'Piano and shoeshine' is part of the club's DNA. I think the only thing to really be celebrated here is not that the passes were made, but the fact that their fans responded to it. They recognised what their club should be. They recognised and responded to the 'Sundowns way'. What certainly should be recognised, though, is that at the end of it, there was a result. There was a goal. It was a move that didn't just fizzle out, and that is something South African soccer is crying out for. Goals!    This brings me to my next point. No disrespect intended to New Zealand football, but how is it that Jeremy Brockie, a striker that needed 45 games for his country to score his first senior international goal, a striker that over the years has scored goals but not at any record-breaking rate, can come to South Africa and make it all look so easy. He is embarrassing our South African strikers right now with his strike rate of almost a goal every other game. And the quality of the goals is there for all to see as well. Now let's say it's not the quality of our strikers, it's just that Brockie is better. Then I ask myself the question, 'How does a country with a population of just over 4.5 million, a country besotted with rugby, cricket and even sailing before soccer, manage to produce a striker like Brockie. Meanwhile here in South Africa, with around 50 million people, we continue to struggle to produce strikers who can knock in more than 15 goals a season?'    Let's look at what the rest of the world is currently doing when it comes to players leading the scoring race. Messi has 32 goals, Ronaldo has 31, Diego Costa has 19, Harry Kane 19, Alexandre Lacazette in France has 23, and Alexander Meier in Germany has 19. In the PSL, Cuthbert Malajila has 10! Kaizer Chiefs, the club currently winning the league, has top scorers on 6! It's a real issue and one that needs to be addressed.    Not that it is the only reason, but clearly the quality of the end product in the PSL is part of the reason for empty stands. There are very few goals. There is a complete absence of goal machines, and, when we are applauding 19 passes, that gives you an indication of what the fans usually get served up.    As for the refereeing, let's just say that the referees working without linesman in my very amateur weekend league would have been able to have made the off-side call that played a role in Kaizer Chiefs being knocked out of the Nedbank Cup. Some of our refereeing is simply embarrassing right now.    It's all about standards and expectations. The latter should remain the same, the former needs to be addressed.     Shapa Clint