Pienaar's Call for Bafana Bafana: Need for Breaking Runs

Steven Pienaar has seen this movie before. And he does not like how it is building.

As South Africa staggered and then finally surged to a 1-1 draw with Czechia in Atlanta, the former Bafana Bafana star watched from afar and saw one glaring problem: nobody was running in behind.

On X, in the middle of the group-stage scrap that briefly threatened to turn into a disaster, he cut straight to the point: "Why is there no running of the ball from Bafana? They all want the ball to feet, no deep runs."

The message was simple. And it did not change, even after South Africa rescued their World Cup campaign.

A point gained, a warning repeated

Bafana’s first point of the 2026 FIFA World Cup came late, via the right boot of Teboho Mokoena from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute. The equaliser turned anxiety into belief, and for a few frantic minutes South Africa looked capable of stealing all three points.

They couldn’t. They settled for 1-1, and with it, the most fragile of lifelines.

Bottom of Group A, one point from two games, and now a decisive showdown with South Korea in Guadalupe next Wednesday – a 3 a.m. kick-off for those watching back home in South Africa.

The performance improved as the game wore on. The result kept the campaign alive. Pienaar’s assessment, though, stayed exactly where it started.

"Well done boys. Now, on to the next. Please, next, we game we need breaking runs - please boys," he posted after the final whistle, doubling down on his demand for penetration, movement, and risk.

Echoes of 2010 – but a different prize

Pienaar knows what it means to walk into a final group match with hope hanging by a thread. He was a central figure in South Africa’s 2010 World Cup squad, a team that also arrived at their last group game with one point from two matches.

Back then, a stirring 2-1 win over France in Bloemfontein still wasn’t enough. The hosts went out on goal difference, their tournament defined by what might have been.

This time the equation looks slightly kinder. In an expanded World Cup, third place in Group A could be enough to reach the round of 32. The margins are still fine, but they are no longer brutal.

Mexico sit top of the group with six points. South Korea have three. Czechia and South Africa are locked on one point each, with Bafana trailing on goal difference.

The task is clear: beat South Korea, and then let the numbers fall where they may.

A team without Premier League stars, but not without pedigree

There is another contrast with 2010. That squad carried the glamour of European club football, and Pienaar himself was at the heart of it, having built a respected career with Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland.

This group walks a different path. After Lyle Foster’s relegation with Burnley, there is no current English Premier League player in the squad. No obvious, ready-made poster boy from one of Europe’s super leagues.

Yet South African club football is hardly shrinking from the spotlight.

Mamelodi Sundowns have become a continental force, lifting a second CAF Champions League title in the 2025-26 season. Mokoena, the man who kept Bafana alive in Atlanta, was also the man for the moment in Rabat, scoring the decisive goal against AS FAR in the second leg of the final.

The same calm from the spot, the same sense of timing. The domestic game is producing players with big-match temperament. The question now is whether the national team can unlock their full range.

Runs, risk and a last chance in Guadalupe

That is where Pienaar’s plea lands. Not as a throwaway social media gripe, but as a tactical challenge from someone who has lived the pressure of a World Cup group stage.

He sees a team that wants the ball to feet. That builds neatly. That competes. But without those “breaking runs” he keeps asking for, defences can hold their line, squeeze the spaces, and dictate the rhythm.

Against South Korea, that caution could be fatal.

This is South Africa’s fourth appearance at a World Cup. They have never reached the knockout rounds. The expanded format offers a new route, a fresh angle of escape, but it still demands courage in the final third.

One point on the board. One game to play. One clear message from a former star: stop playing in front of teams, start running beyond them.

If Bafana Bafana finally heed that call in Guadalupe, this campaign might yet break from the familiar script.