Our football is not improving

Countries like Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Croatia are becoming a force to be reckoned with in world football because players from those countries are plying their trade in some of the top leagues in the world, which then benefits their national teams. For Bafana Bafana to be a force, we need to encourage our players to go to the top teams playing in top leagues like the English Premier League, Serie A, LaLiga, Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and Eredivisie. We are seeing players from African countries like Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Ivory Coast able to command a place in the starting line-ups of top teams like Manchester United, Inter Milan and Ajax Amsterdam; bear in mind, these African countries don’t have rich leagues with financial resources and facilities like the South African Absa Premiership. Our players are not strong enough mentally and lack tactical discipline in the field of play due to poor development which is tested when they go overseas or play against the top football nations, so much so that they end up returning home, in the case of Andile Jali and Lebogang Manyama, for example. We also need to ask ourselves whether or not our development coaches in our local teams/ academies are competent enough in their role to these young players … many of them are former players, so did they only resort to becoming development coaches because there was nothing else they could do to earn an income after their playing days were over? Zach Malefane, Stellenbosch,