With the growing outcry that SA no longer has a striker in the mould of Benni McCarthy, Shaun Bartlett and the late Philemon Masinga, ex-Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane wants to be responsible in unearthing one.
“In our country we no longer have a No.9, do we? It is only Lebo Mothiba at Bafana and nobody else,” Mosimane argued.
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“We are scratching and scratching, check all the PSL teams. Do they have strikers that can carry the team? So really, we are short in SA. There is no typical No.9 – a Bartlett, McCarthy, Masinga or Katlego Mphela.”
Pressed by journalists on where he thinks it all went wrong with the development of such players, Mosimane pointed to grassroots.
“Football comes from the township. That’s a fact. I look at boys play in the township, they don’t score. All they want is to dribble. We don’t have a culture of a goalpost and a net. For me that contributes,” he said.
The Mamelodi Sundowns coach hinted that his next big project would be to someday dedicate his time to producing a quality striker.
“My idea is to start them young. Teach them all the basics. I have seen how it is done. I have played in Europe and I know the requirements. I have seen Benni McCarthy and a Steven Pienaar. How they made it. We can build that player,” he said.
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