After spending a month of painstaking 2010 World Cup preparations in Brazil, SA coach Carlos Alberto Parreira says his team has finally found a style of play with which they can be identified.

Whilst being in the camp, Bafanabafana have played against several teams from the South American country.

“We can now identify the team with one style because we have found our shape,”  Parreira, was quoted in kickoff.com.

“Right now the bottle is half full because we are halfway ready towards being fully prepared for the World Cup. I say half full instead of half empty because I am optimistic about the way we are preparing for the World Cup.

“I have seen the players in brazil and I can say that camp gave a shape to the team in terms of ball possession. From the Brazil camp we accomplished what we were looking for because our foundation is now firm.

“Playing as a team and keeping shape during the camp in Brazil is what pleased me with our defence doing well in a 4-4-2 system with two central midfielders and two wide players with a half-striker and the top man. Now that we have the shape we have to make it stronger going forward into the camp in Germany,” explained Parreira.

However, despite finding the playing style, the Brazillian said he is not fully happy with his team’s  physical fitness levels even though the defence is okay.

“Even though I am happy with the shape, the physical fitness should be much higher than where it is now. The defence is okay and the team is organized even without the ball while the transition when moving defence to attack is good. We just want to improve the quality of possession because that is what most of these players battle with since in the PSL the football tends to be like table tennis at times with the ball being kicked forward and back just like that.

“We are not saying we will be like Barcelona but we don’t want to be like a table tennis team,” says the Brazillian adding that the Germany camp will be the second of a three-part preparation for the World Cup.

“The last camp will be the one that we will have in Johannesburg starting on May 5. So far, the Brazil camp was a positive start and it doesn’t matter what team we played against there because even a second division team in Brazil can give a good challenge to any team from anywhere in the world,”

South Africa is expected to play Mexico in their opening match at the tournament.

Photo courtesy: Daily Mail