体坛英语新闻：South African football plans comeback

CAPE TOWN, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- South African national football teams would try hard to become a world force again, the South African Football Association (SAFA) said on Thursday.

All the national teams would be in the top three in Africa by 2020 and inside the world's top 20 in the longer term, according to a plan worked out by SAFA.

"We want to be in the top three at all national levels on the continent and inside the top 20 in the world," said SAFA's chief executive, Robin Petersen.

All SA national teams, including Bafana Bafana, performed poorly last year.

Bafana Bafana failed again to qualify for the second successive continental showpiece, the Africa Cup of Nations, while the junior sides - the SA Under-23s and SA Under-20s - failed in their respective Olympic qualifiers and regional COSAFA (Council of Southern African Football Associations) Championship tournaments.

Bafana Bafana reached its highest ranking of 16th in the world in the 1990s, but since then it has steadily declined.

"We have been there once and now need to be there consistently - and to do that, you have to put in place structures that will help you achieve this," said Petersen.

Briefing the media on SAFA' s plan, Petersen said the plan was divided into three phases.

In the first phase, SAFA would engage with coaches and former players in candid discussions on how the local game should be run.

From March until July, SAFA would be aiming at creating a "comprehensive" strategy for "decision and deployment" in the second phase, according to Petersen.

Then comes the final phase in which the "decision and deployment" will be implemented.

"We obviously can't do this by walking alone," Petersen said.

"There are seven areas that we are working towards and we will have a philosophy that we all agree on."

The focus will start at grass root level, where SAFA wants to implement competitiveness from an early age, while stimulating school and academy soccer, according to the plan.

More importantly, data will be captured of all the coaches and players in the country, ensuring that every one of them is recorded in the association's base.

This will be crucial to ensure that "every single talent in this country must be captured," said SAFA technical director Serame Letsoaka.

"We must know what talent is within our schools and academies and make sure that 80 percent get to make to the national teams."