Rustenburg, South Africa - When Bernard Parker signed for
Serbian club Red Star Belgrade at the beginning of the year, he
thought it was the start of a lucrative and successful footballing
career in Europe.
Since then his dream has turned into a nightmare.
After not getting his salary for months, Parker and Ghanaian team-
mate Mohammed Awal-Issah tried to leave Serbia, but were prevented
from doing so.
The 23-year-old Parker finally arrived back in South Africa
shortly before the start of the Confederations Cup to team up with
the Bafana Bafana.
But any hope for a change in his fortunes evaporated late in the
second half of South Africa's opening Confederations Cup match
against Iraq.
With the score still goalless, Kagisho Dikgacoi headed goalwards
and the ball seemed on course to cross the goal line and give the
hosts the all-important victory.
But instead of crossing the line, the ball struck Parker, who was
practically on the goal line, on the back and was cleared by a
defender.
'When the ball hit me, I just wanted to drop dead on the spot. It
happened, it's football.
'I can't turn back the hands of time. I'll just have to put it
behind me and focus on our next game,' the Boksburg-born striker
said.
Parker's 'save' though cost South Africa dearly as it put them in
a 'must-win' game against New Zealand's All Whites.
Coach Joel Santana, who took off Parker shortly after he prevented
the ball from crossing the line, kept faith in the player and gave
him a place in the starting line-up.
And Parker, who went into the game against New Zealand having
scored five goals in 15 appearances, repaid the coach in the best way
he could - by scoring goals.
In the 21st minute, Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar played a
short ball to defender Tsepo Masilela, who could have gone down in
search of a penalty after being tackled. Instead, he played the ball
back for Parker, whose shot gave goalkeeper Glen Moss no chance.
Seven minutes after the restart, Pienaar again laid the ball off
to Masilela and his pass found Parker, who put the ball into the back
of the net to secure Bafana's 2-0 victory, which keeps them in the
race for a place in the semi-finals.
When Santana took Parker off with a few minutes remaining, he was
widely cheered by the near-capacity crowd of some 36,000.
After the game he thanked his team-mates for their support. 'My
team-mates helped me to put the incident of stopping the ball on the
line behind me and helped me to focus on the game ahead.
'And when the coach announced the starting line-up and I was in
the team, it gave me a lot of confidence as I could see that the
coach believed in me. I think that motivated me and I think, as a
result, my performance was good.
'We needed a little bit of luck, which we did not have in the
first game and this time we had it,' he said.
And hopefully - with a little bit of luck - Bafana will still be
in the competition come the last day on June 26 and Parker can
finally put his woes behind him.
USA
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