SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt has made his thoughts known about the failings of South African football.
According to Hunt, development coaches, who are in charge of honing young players’ skills before they make the step up to the professional ranks, are dropping the ball.
Speaking on The All Rounders SA YouTube channel, the former Kaizer Chiefs mentor said South Africa is way behind the rest of the world when it comes to getting young players ready for senior football.
"... We start too late here. We start at 21 or 22 and say he is a young player – no he’s not. A 16-year-old should be playing in the PSL,” Hunt said.
“At 17 you should be like a man in terms of physicality. Look at our Diski league – weak, weak, weak. There’s no aerial power, no one-v-one strength. Half a tackle they roll around the ground, holding their ankles. Come on, it’s a problem.”
The SuperSport United tactician highlighted the fact that at a very young age, South African footballers tend to be on the same level as those from other countries. But, development stops and those players are not given the necessary skills to go on to the next level.
“You take a 10-year-old from England, Brazil, Germany, Spain and a South African 10-year-old – we are just as good as all of them if not better.
“Then what happens? There are two ends of the game – scoring goals and defending. That’s the most important part of the game.
“We don’t coach properly. We don’t coach scoring, we don’t coach defending. We coach playing, possession, so we are coaching the wrong things … I don’t care what everybody says, I’ll argue with anybody [about this].
“They make 35 passes but they haven’t crossed the ball, they have not had a shot at goals,” Hunt explained.
IOL Sport