Bafana Bafana legend Mark Fish has questioned the desire of the current crop of players in the national team.

Another World Cup will pass the nation by after Bafana failed to book their ticket to the tournament in Russia starting on Thursday.

During the qualifiers, back- to-back losses against lowly Cape Verde curtailed Bafana's chances of qualification.

In the latest poor showing, SA could also not reclaim the Cosafa Cup recently where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals and had to settle for the useless plate.

Fish, who was a pillar of strength in defence for Bafana at the 1998 World Cup, feels there is a crisis in SA football.

"I think to say that the national team has been a disappointment would be an understatement," Fish said.

"You just don't see that passion and hunger from our boys at the moment. It's like the significance of what they are doing and who they represent is lost upon them.

"We really need to take a hard look at ourselves and decide how we are going to turn this situation around."

The future of coach Stuart Baxter has come under the spotlight after a string of negative results. With the qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon starting in August, some pundits are predicting another possible coaching change.

Former striker Phil Masinga says the country needs to ask tough questions of the Safa leadership.

"The blame cannot fall squarely at the feet of the players. We need to question what caused our World Cup chances to crumble," Masinga said.

"That is why some of us felt that there needed to be changes at Safa. Just look at the qualifiers: there was a point we were leading the group but in the end it amounted to nothing."

Bafana lost out to Senegal in their group, losing four of their six qualifiers to finish bottom of the pool in what was their worst showing in a group since readmission.