Johannesburg It's official, the long time awaited 'Madiba Magic' for Bafana was executed this week. "Nelson Mandela Madiba met Bafana Bafana’s World Cup team at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices last week to wish the team well for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Captain Aaron Mokoena introduced Mandela to all the team members, including coach Carlos Perreira and the technical and management teams.
Introducing 1.98 metre-tall defender Matthew Booth to chants of Boooooth, Mokoena told Mandela, who stands an impressive 1.94 meters himself: “This is the tallest man in the building”.
Mandela will be 92 years old on 18 July. His birthday has been endorsed by the United Nations as International Nelson Mandela Day. On the day, people throughout the world are encouraged to give at least 67 minutes of their time to do good work. This is in honour of the 67 years that Mandela sacrificed to make South Africa and the world a better place. Mandela is a lucky man after South Africa clinched both the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations in his tenure as the President of the republic of South Africa. It remains to be seen whether indeed the ‘Madiba Magic’ will work this time under Jacob Zuma’s tenure in office.
Meanwhile South African national soccer team coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, said the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts had improved tremendously ahead of the soccer games which begin this week. Parreira, who rejoined the South African team on October 23 last year, after taking a May 2008 break to nurse his then sick wife, last week convincingly declared that his team was ready for the competition, where he is tasked with taking them beyond the first round for the first time in three appearances.
Bafana Bafana, who meet Mexico in the opening match at Johannesburgs Soccer City Stadium on July 11, have not lost a match since Parreiras return “We still have to improve on the penetration, but we are not far off and we will work on that in our remaining matches, he said. He was happy with the international friendly matches so far. “This is the level that we will face at the World Cup. I doubt it will be higher than this, he said
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News