TOUCHLINE feels that somebody must save our young talent or else our national team, Bafana Bafana will always be second best to their African counterparts.
For example, look at the three big clubs’ first choice goalkeepers. PSL clubs give foreign national goalkeepers’ game time at the expense of the local goalkeepers.
How so?
For example, despite being a bench warmer Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma has been selected for Bafana Bafana. It is for the first time in the history of our football that the three big clubs rely on foreign goalkeepers to the point where our own national team must suffer as a result. At one stage Itumeleng Khune was called to the national team even though he was not playing because of the same problem and now it is Bvuma.
How do you explain this to young footballers?
We give the foreigner goalkeepers the freedom of our country and when we play against their countries, they beat HELL out of us. For all these years Kaizer Chiefs has been known for producing household name goalkeepers in South African football but things have changed with the Nigerian born Daniel Akpeyi being regarded as the best goalkeeper. It is a fact; Bafana Bafana can’t even beat the so-called small countries because talented youngsters are not part of the national team since they are not playing at club level. TOUCHLINE is not subscribing to the theory that football is all about business hence youngsters are made to ‘rot’ on the bench because clubs want to win at all costs. As things stand, we don’t have a pool of goalkeepers to choose from like it was the case in the past. Foreign goalkeepers are dominating the DTSV Premier Soccer League.
It is not as if TOUCHLINE is against foreign players. Bafana Bafana struggles to compete against so called small teams because of the above-mentioned factors. TOUCHLINE is very concerned because the youngsters kick their heels in frustration on the bench or on the stands including the same goalkeepers. Our country is in crisis, and it seems as if no one has the balls to address this situation. Gone are the days when we have the best goalkeepers in our domestic league who were all South African goalkeepers the likes of John Tlale, Brian Baloyi, Mark Anderson, Steve Crowley, Andre Arendse, Senzo Meyiwa and the list goes on.
These were some of the best goalkeepers this country has produced for Bafana Bafana. They were the first choices at their respective clubs regardless of the number of foreign goalkeepers we had in our country by then. Even Bafana Bafana coach, Hugo Broos is frustrated because local goalkeepers are on the bench or on the stand while foreign goalkeepers are first choice goalkeepers. But having said this, not only goalkeepers are the victims of this, our young, talented players also experience this.
This topic needs national a Football Indaba to address this problem in South African football – there is no way we can pretend as if everything is OK while we know it is not. TOUCHLINE feels Hugo Broos’ frustration because it is his head on the block when Bafana Bafana doesn’t perform. He is the man on mission to restore our national team with youngsters, but some PSL teams sabotage him to say the least.
We must hang our heads in shame!
