As the debate over showboating continues in SA football, former Bafana Bafana midfield star Teko Modise has revealed that former coach Carlos Alberto Parreira once substituted him for doing fancy tricks.

Modise was one of the star players in the national team during Parreira’s two stints as Bafana coach along with the likes of Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Steven Pienaar.

Last week, Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane divided opinion when he said kneeling on the ball, wasting time and not eliminating opposition players is a circus and not flair.

Reflecting on his successful career, Modise remembered an incident in 2007 where Parreira replaced him during a friendly against Canada when he started showboating after he scored a brace in the 2-0 win in Durban.

“The first time the coach was actually mad at me. We lost the [2007] Mandela Cup match to USA in Johannesburg and a few days later we had a friendly in Durban against Canada,” said Modise.

“I scored two goals in that match then I started dribbling, being on top of the ball and doing all these things that you can see in the townships but he [Parreira] took me out because he was so mad at me.”

Modise added that Parreira did not have a problem with him dribbling but his silky touches must be aimed at eliminating opponents and creating chances for his teammates.

“He said to be me, if you ever do that again in my team I will never call you up to the national team again. I could not understand but the assistant coach Jairo Leal said to me, 'The coach doesn’t mind you dribbling.'

“Leal said: 'He needs you to go and pass somebody, don’t humiliate your opponents because you are disrespecting them.' And I was like, 'OK, now I understand.'

“He [Parreira] started calling me to meetings. Even when the national team was not playing they will call me in to look at Ronaldinho and what he was doing. Ronaldinho was going forward, creating and scoring goals and from that I started looking at football very differently.

“He also started giving me responsibility to say if you want to be part of the final squad for the World Cup, you can’t do what you are doing.

“Then I started playing differently and I started looking at football differently because my aim was to be in the final squad and he helped me to understand football tactics together with coach Pitso. Coach Pits and Carlos are the two coaches who got the best out of me.”

Modise starred for Orlando Pirates as he shouldered the responsibility of being the Bafana playmaker under Parreira, who won the 1994 World Cup with his native Brazil, in the build-up to and at the 2010 World Cup in SA.