Doc answers your questions…
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Mth uth uzeli Magqash ela from Gqeberh a wants to know h ow I feel about development in our football and wh eth er I th ink coach es are brave enough to give a ch ance to young players. Well, it depends on h ow one looks at it because if we are talking about just being about development or looking to win th ings and being h appy to produce one player every now and th en… People look at th ings differently and th is is a contentious issue because we don’t h ave a unified way of developing players in South Africa. So, it is very tricky to talk about development because a developed player, and given an opportunity, th en proves to be th e best for th ree or six month s only – th en it means someth ing is wrong with our development structure. Th ere’s a lot one can say about development and th ere are so many teams one can pinpoint from th e elite league th at h ave developed top players, but I don’t th ink th at’s a righ t th ing to do.
Gavin Ryan of Emalah leni wants to know my best World Cup experience and wh o th e best player I faced was. Remember, I only played against Saudi Arabia in th e last 30 minutes or so of th e game and th at was th e only World Cup appearance I made. We were in isolation for years, as a country, so th ese opportunities were not th ere as much . Wh en we played against France, I h appened to be in th e same tunnel with Th ierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, Emmanuel Petit and oth ers, wh ich was a h igh ligh t.
Terah Maqepula of Mount Fletch er wants to know wh y South African football is struggling to qualify or win big tournaments wh ile oth er countries are doing well. We didn’t h ave a succession plan for future generations after th e successful 1996 Afcon campaign. Wh at we see h appening today is th e result of our failure to h ave a programme for th e future. Wh at h appened between 1996 and 1998 is th e result we are still reaping today.