Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs legend Doctor Khumalo has shared his last conversation with late coach Clive Barker about his mentor's "regrets" for the national team.
The news of Barker's passing, aged 78, gripped the country on Saturday June 10, following a battle with a condition described medically as Lewy Body Dementia (LBD).
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Barker famously led Bafana Bafana to their first and only Africa Cup of Nations title in 1996 and qualified the country to their first FIFA World Cup competition in 1998, although he did not have the opportunity to coach them at the showpiece.
Khumalo, who was one of the influential figures at Bafana during that era, says he had a conversation with Barker while he was still diagnosed with LBD and revealed that he still held the '96 Bafana squad close to his heart.
"The beauty about it is that I managed to visit him and I saw him while he was still struggling with a disease that he had and I was a little bit confused at some stage because I went there to shoot a documentary scene, where I wanted him to be part of it," Khumalo said on Marawa Sports Worldwide.
"As I went into the lounge, he turned and said, 'Hey Dockies'. I had a conversation with him, he started to ask about former players, 'Doc where is Eric (Tinkler), where is (Mark) Fish, Helman (Mkhalele), John (Moeti) and Shoes (Moshoeu)?
"I just said, 'No, they are all okay coach'. I don't know how to call it but I asked myself, 'Is this the coach that I saw'? Our first game in 1996 against Cameroon and today he is in this condition?"
The former Amakhosi midfield maestro also revealed that Barker told him that he "regretted" resigning just before the start of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France and felt that he let them down, as he believed he could have helped them win the title.
"We kept on talking...But he will always say 'I shouldn't have let you guys down'. He said 'I shouldn't have resigned, because I would've won it'. So, I knew he was talking about France '98," Khumalo went on.
'16V' also revealed that Barker regretted taking him off at half-time against Brazil in an international friendly in 1996 when Bafana were leading 2-0 and went on to lose 3-2 after Khumalo was substituted.
"Because he resigned after Saudi Arabia Confederation Cup. And again he said, 'I'm so sorry Dokkie, that was my worst nightmare, my worst mistake that I have done when I took you off against Brazil, I regret.
"'I would have probably been the first coach to beat Brazil in Africa'. I said 'Coach it's alright, it's water under the bridge," he added.
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