Bafana need our support

We are likely to drop from 49th position when the Fifa rankings are released on Wednesday. Zimbabwe are currently ranked 74th. But we draw inspiration from Safa's commitment to line up matches for Bafana against top-ranked countries next year

BAFANA Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane is telling us the obvious: Rome was not built in a day. Who doesn't know that?

Mosimane, tell us about something that will inspire the nation, not the garbage you told us at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday after Bafana embarrassed the nation in Harare on Tuesday night.

We find it very strange that you still have the gumption to tell us that your plans for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil are right on track, though Tuesday's result tells a different story.

You ask us to be patient as you are still building a team for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals. How long are we building this team? The building process started when South Africa was readmitted to Fifa way back in 1992 and we are still building.

Without any disrespect for Zimbabwe, we are certainly not going to gain anything playing against teams like Zimbabwe.

They are among opponents who will offer us nothing. This goes against the coach's call for the nation to give him the support. Mosimane is, however, right when he says we need to face quality opponents that will give us sturdy resistance.

But why did he agree to play Zimbabwe in the first place?

Tuesday's setback will come back to haunt us when it comes to the Fifa rankings. We are likely to drop from 49th position when the rankings are released on Wednesday. Zimbabwe are currently ranked 74th.

How about playing against SA invitational sides instead of meaningless friendlies?

But we draw inspiration from Safa's commitment to line up matches for Bafana against top-ranked countries next year.

Let's hope Safa are not talking about Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi or Lesotho.

We seem to be excited at the news that we will play against lowly-ranked India in a friendly in January. Come on Safa, what are we going to gain from playing against India, who are ranked 160th?

It is not by mistake that they are lowly ranked - they are not a footballing country.

We should not be excited about playing such teams. In fact, we should be worried.

It is really a sad state of affairs for Bafana. The soccer authorities need to do something radical to save the national team from further embarrassment.

We cannot continue to be the laughing stock of the beautiful game.

We, as a nation, also have a critical role to play in helping Bafana to recover.

Let's give them all the support that we can.