It is astonishing that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) does not have a single player participating in this year’s Fifa World Cup which gets under way in Qatar on Sunday, according to Bafana Bafana legend and former Kaizer Chiefs dribbling maestro Doctor “16 Valve” Khumalo.
The only South Africans who will be flying the local flag in the Middle East are Roger de Sa, the assistant coach of Iran, and referees Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela.
In regards to players, there are no PSL-based stars in the tournament after the only hope, Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori, was yanked out of the Ghana final squad.
“We had Richard Ofori going but he did not make the final squad. We cannot really blame the DStv Premiership, this has nothing to do with them, they are just there to provide a platform for the players to play,” said Khumalo.
“We must not look far, let us look at the players and at ourselves. There have been many World Cup [tournaments] since we last qualified in 2002. We qualified for 2010 because it was held in South Africa and we hosted [the tournament]. We missed the 2014 tournament in Brazil, the 2018 in Russia and this one in Qatar.
“In the early years of Bafana Bafana, we struggled and lost many matches and other countries on the continent were laughing at us, but we knew we wanted to play in the World Cup against the best players. We missed out in 1994, but we made sure that we booked our ticket for France 98.”
Khumalo, who was so potent with the ball that Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung retired his number 15 jersey, said the clubs too cannot be blamed.
“The clubs provide everything for the players, they provide the fields, the boots, the balls. The players must answer why they are not at the World Cup. Other players from other countries are raising their game to play at the World Cup.
“When Bienvenu Eva Nga scored his first goal for Orlando Pirates, he said he hopes Rigobert Song was watching, because he wants to play at the World Cup. We do not hear such talk from our players, we do not see it on the field.
“Hugo Broos asked the question, maybe he was defending himself. Some of [what he spoke about] was the truth, even though he is partly to blame because of his team selection and leaving our stars and top-performing players out in favour of ordinary players.”
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