My Dream Team

In this edition, we kick off a brand-new series, My Dream Team, where we speak to former players about the best players they played with. Former Bafana Bafana and Charlton Athletic striker Shaun Bartlett selects his Dream XI of former teammates.

Former Bafana Bafana international Shaun Bartlett reveals which former teammates would make his dream squad

1 Goalkeeper Andre Arendse

Andre will always be my first choice. Not only did we start together at Cape Town Spurs and were good friends, I think he has proven himself as a top-class goalkeeper in South Africa. And for me, he is the best when it comes to consistency. He was the same as a teammate with the national team as well as club level. Even now, Andre has remained the same person from the time he started at amateur level to top-flight football. That is one great attribute about him.

2 Right-back Sizwe Motaung

The late Sizwe is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, right-back in South African football. Having had the pleasure of playing with him at the African Nations Cup in 1996 and being part of that successful team, I saw what a great defender he was. He also helped the team going forward and showed what a wing-back was by going up and down the field. He was pretty quiet as a player, and would just go on the field and do his business without talking a lot. I think there were too many players in that team who were not vocal. For us it was just about playing. Sometimes people say players don’t understand what the coach means because of language barriers, but look at that 1996 team, it was not about the language. Even when I played in Switzerland, we had about nine players who couldn’t speak English, yet we won trophies.

3 Centre-back Mark Fish

It’s a difficult when you put Mark Fish at the back because he is one of those players who would never stay at the back, but he was always solid. With Fish, you knew either the ball or the player would go past him, but not both. And he also gave something go forward as far as attacking was concerned Even at Charlton Athletic, on a number of occasions the manager would get upset Mark for not being in defence and runnin forward with the ball. That was his nature because he wanted to help the team goi forward as much as he was a defender.

4 Centre-back Michael Jacobs

Maybe this will come as a surprise, but during my time with Cape Town Spurs, the guy that guided me through the process of becoming a professional footballer was Michael Jacobs. He was a no-nonsense defender next to Seba Rodrigues. With those two defenders, when we played Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, you would never see the strikers because they were too scared. Michael was an out-and-out defender … nowadays you can’t touch players, but Michael used to put players on a stretcher, not fouling them, but with the ball. He was no-nonsense, which sometimes I think is missing in the game.

5 Leftback Bradley Carnell

This is a bit of a tricky choice to make, but I will go for Bradley for his application and professionalism. Having had an opportunity to share the field with him on a number of occasions, I think the way he carried himself was great. It’s a tough choice between him and David Nyathi … but Bradley was a great player.

6 Right-wing Helman Mkhalele

right-wings we ever produced with his electric speed. He had that no fear attitude: whether it was against Germany, Cameroon or Argentina, he always had the same approach. He was always taking on defenders and he knew that his primary role was to create goals for the strikers. I remember my first Bafana Bafana goal I scored against Egypt in 1995 in Mafikeng – it was from him. He was one of the players who understood the game. He didn’t talk much, but his performances were great. It’s sad that we don’t have pacey players any more, that and the fact there is a lot of restrictions put on players these days.

7 Midfielder Eric Tinkler

In this position, you always want to go for a bit of steel and that is why I chose Eric. He made it abroad, but whenever he played in South Africa he wore his heart on his sleeves. He made sure the fans knew that he was playing and the way he applied himself, he carried his job description to the full. In August, we had a hall of fame induction of the Class of 1996 and if you look at that squad, we are all six-foot tall. Look at the current Bafana team – there are probably three players who are that tall, and I keep asking myself, ‘why is that so?’. The reality is sometimes we can’t physically compete with West Africans because of players who are physically not up to it.

8 Midfielder John‘Shoes’ Moshoeu

Shoes is one of the est creative players country has ever roduced. He was unpredictable and even as teammates, sometimes we didn’t know what he was going to do with the ball. But the beauty was that, if you were in a free space, Shoes would find you. He was very, very precise with his passes. He also had a long career and played at the age where most players had already stopped. He always wanted to give back to the game. And definitely for me as far as application is concerned, he was one of the best players we ever had.

9 Midfielder Doctor Khumalo

He was another creative player and a very similar type of a player to Shoes. In order to win matches, you needed players that would come up with that individual brilliance and Doctor had that ability to do something out of nothing, and turn the game on its head. I think that was key in helping South Africa win matches: I recall the one pass he gave to Phil Masinga [against Congo] that helped us qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France. He had the ability to get the ball and make sure we could go forward on the front foot.

10 Left-wing Delron Buckley

On this side, I have to go for the creativity of Delron. I know him very well from our time with the national team. He had an illustrious career abroad and when we played together we had a good understanding – he was always able to find me in the box. He was also one of the quietest players, but let his performance do the talking. He was one of the best crossers of the ball. Himself, Quinton Fortune and Bradley were the best crossers we had – it’s pure basics, nothing exceptional.

11 Forward Benni McCarthy

The guy that broke my Bafana Bafana record, Benni, came on and set the scene alight. He was an exciting young player and was always willing to learn and ask for advice. That is a good attribute, not to be arrogant, but have that humbleness even though you achieved certain things. Those are important factors and even now as a coach, he still asks for advice. He was a striker with a great eye for goal, a typical goal poacher.