Santana should have at least tried subs for the strikers right after the first half in the earlier two games. Then if the exercise backfired he’d have the benefit of a longer evaluation time. That’s why I am not so eager to write off Katlego Mashego, because he cannot get a fair evaluation from less than 20 minutes total playing time in the whole tourney. And even there, there were glimpses of the predatory instinct in Mashego that we want from a striker, unless the more timid Terror Fanteni who was simply overwhelmed psychologically by the occasion.

Only Parker can be evaluated fairly because he started and played full matches throughout, albeit in a 1 striker format that asked too much from him. Parker is a striker no doubt, but he looks even better when the presure is off him. Santana took too long to establish this (which is not the only thing it took him eons to figure by the way), but he saved himself by bringing in Mphela right after the first half. Great decision ! A lifesaver nogal.

Still, Santana’s decision making needs to be more responsive to questions posed to the team on the field. He seems stuck in a certain way of doing things, just for the sake of doing it. It shouldn’t take more than a first half to establish if a strategy is working or not. All the substitutions he made in the last game were begging to be made earlier, but because he respects “experience” more than potential, Santana could not get himself to do this earlier.

Nonetheless, there is room for improvement for everybody, including those that played very well. If the main objective was learning on the fly, then mission accomplished. We will build on this and move forward to 2010.

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