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South Africa coach,
Carlos Alberto Parreira, struggling to prevent an ignominious early
exit by the World Cup hosts, expressed frustration on Friday at the
difficulty of setting up strong pre-tournament friendlies.

Stymied by the bad
planning of the South African federation and the final stage of
European competitions, the hosts returned on Friday from a training
camp in Germany still short of the challenging preparation games they
need to improve.

“I tell you the
real truth, we worked very hard in Germany to get one single first
division team to play with us. Even the reserve team for Bayern Munich.
But nobody wants to play with us,” the Brazilian coach told a news
conference.

The Icelandic
volcanic ash cloud that severely disrupted global air travel added to
Parreira’s problems with both China and Estonia pulling out of
friendlies in Germany.

South Africa have
played North Korea and Jamaica in the last week, managing only a
goalless draw with the former which pushed them down to 90th in the
FIFA world rankings.

They beat
79th-ranked Jamaica 2-0, but Bafana Bafana (the Boys) still looked
unconvincing, especially in goal-scoring power. The Jamaican game was
their third victory in 16 matches.

The camp included
only players from the domestic league, but Parreira’s problems are
compounded by the fact that most European-based South African players
spend the majority of their time on the bench for their clubs and lack
match fitness.

Local excitement

FIFA and local
organising committee officials have expressed concern that a poor
performance by South Africa and an exit after the group stage would
undermine vital local excitement for the June 11-July 11 tournament.
They would be the first World Cup hosts not to make the knockout second
round of the finals if this happens.

Parreira asked
people to “be realistic” about the home team’s chances. South Africa
“should not put pressure on our boys. We have to give our best and
fight for the country”.

Hundreds of fans blowing vuvuzela trumpets welcomed the team when they landed back in Johannesburg on Friday.

Orlando Pirates
midfielder Teko Modise told reporters the team were playing well, but
needed to break the goal drought. “I think the one thing we are lacking
now is scoring goals. Scoring goals will bring us more confidence,” he
said.

Kaizer Chiefs’
midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala agreed, “As a team we’ve being doing well
defending and keeping shape but I think we need to start going more
forward and scoring goals,” he said.

South Africa hope
to play friendlies against Bulgaria, Colombia and Denmark in May and
early June ahead of the June 11 opening match of the tournament against
Mexico.

Parreira named a
provisional 29-man World Cup squad on Friday. One notable absentee is
Spanish-based defender Nasief Morris, left out just before last year’s
Confederation Cup for disciplinary reasons and still not rehabilitated
despite efforts at a reconciliation.

First choice
defender Morgan Gould, who underwent ankle surgery in February but is
attempting to work his way back to fitness, was also excluded.