体坛英语新闻：South Africa vows to shape world-level national football team

JOHANNESBURG, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The South African Football Association (SAFA) has come up with a master plan to improve the national team ranking, the SAFA chief Robin Petersen said here on Thursday.

Petersen said the SAFA wants the national football team to be top three in Africa and top 20 in the world.

"We are in a country with infrastructure and talent, and there is no reason why we are not in the top three in Africa and 20 consistently in all national teams," Petersen said.

"Football is not only about sponsorship and money, but the nation. Football is the thermostat of the national psyche. We want to revive those days when football made us transcend cultural barriers," he added.

"South Africa will soon have a football philosophy which will go down to the grassroots," said the chief.

The SAFA wants to train 5000 coaches in a year, improving the quality of football at all levels, even including women's teams and youth teams.

Petersen said, "We have learnt from Spain that has a lot of qualified coaches. We want to register about three million players into our system. This will make it easier for the fans and coaches to follow them."

"We will have some analytical technology to assist the coach to monitor players at home and abroad. We will have some sports science and know when to make a player play for the national team, " he said.

Gordon Igesund,the newly-appointed coach of the South Africa's national football team echoed Petersen's view that a football culture is required in the country.

Igesund said, "We are supposed to have our South African way of play which will be known. In the past we had been playing the Brazilian style and we are yet to come up with one philosophy."

Igesund said he will meet the national coaches and chairpersons to talk to them about releasing players for national duties.

The coach said he wants to bring confidence into the team and players. "They have been unfairly criticized and I want the players to believe in themselves," he added.

Igesund believed the country has capability to shape a team to be reckoned with in the football fraternity worldwide.