Bafana players must go to top European clubs

As South Africans watch the third World Cup in succession on TV without Bafana Bafana, Shaun Bartlett has warned this will continue for some time until the country addresses challenges afflicting its football.

The global showpiece kicked off in Qatar on Sunday, with SA not only absent after the last appearance when it was hosted here in 2010, but also without a single PSL player at the tournament, adding to the humiliation brought about by Bafana’s failure to qualify.

Now head coach at NFD side Cape Town Spurs, Bartlett reckons SA’s failure is brought about by a myriad issues but chief among them has to be local players’ absence in major European leagues.

“Only once our players have the ambition to compete at the highest level will we get closer to qualifying for a World Cup,” the former Bafana striker told the media at the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational in Sun City at the weekend.

“Now we have players aged 28 or 30 coming back to the PSL when they should be competing in Europe to give us a shot at competing against major teams and qualifying for big tournaments.”

In recent years Bafana stars such as Keagan Dolly and Bongani Zungu have been among the players to return home after spells in Europe but Bartlett believes if the trend continues there won’t be a Bafana team at a World Cup for the foreseeable future.

“The common feature about our team in the mid-90s was that we had many players in different parts of Europe. It takes a lot of sacrifice to stay in Europe, I understand that. Players obviously need support, especially from family. I was fortunate to have that. Mark Fish and Quinton Fortune also had that. When you have a good or bad day it’s important that you come back and share that with someone.

“But maybe some of our players don’t have that kind of support, hence they get lonely and end up returning home. I get that the PSL has money now, but imagine if you made the money you’re earning here per month on a weekly basis in Europe,” the former Charlton Athletic striker added.

Bartlett, 50, also blamed Safa for not walking the talk regarding development structures.

“We heard of Vision 2022 but nothing came of it. We hear of Fun Valley but not a lot has happened there. Some of these nice phrases, you only hear when someone wants to get elected [to Safa positions] and nothing ever gets done. Instead of utilising some of the former players’ expertise in Safa structures, we are seen as a threat,” said the man who scored 28 goals in 74 Bafana appearances.