When going through Clive Barker's Bafana Bafana squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 hosted on home soil, one thing that stands out about the team was their big frames and sheer strength.
Looking at the spine of the team, it had physicality and core strength with players such as Andre Arendse, Mark Fish, Lucas Radebe, Sizwe Motaung, Doctor Khumalo, Eric Tinkler and Phil Masinga among many. The element of strength and technical ability the class of '96 had saw many of them secure moves to Europe, and they thrived when they got there because of their physicality.
Where the 1,9m tall "Waltzing" Masinga used to lead the attacking line for SA, an almost 1,5m tiny Percy Tau is expected to carry the burden for the current bunch.
SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt believes that SA lost its football identity when it stopped producing strong players like the ones who were bred in the '80s and those who blossomed in the '90s.
"The balance of football was right, we had the flair, solidity and physicality mixed well ... if you look through the 1996 team (Bafana Bafana) and 1998. Then I think we lost our way, in 2002 when we went to the World Cup, we still had physicality, with a mixture of flair, after that we lost our way because we wanted to change how we play football," said Hunt.
“The 96 team could play, they could fight and they had physicality in the team; when the game wasn’t going their way they could fight for the team and when the game went their way, they could play. We don’t have that anymore, that’s what we need to get back to our football.
"Since then we have looked for players who don’t give you the balance of being good players and the physicality; the game is about power and strength, yes you need the flair but you need the strength.
"You need to have a little bit of size about you, I’m not talking big players but your strength and your power. Not losing your one v ones, we have gone away from that, we’ve concentrated so much on ball retention, building up and all of that," he said.
So how does the country go back to producing big-framed players?
"That goes down to looking at the right players, not the best players. When you see a player at U16, he can play beautifully out from the back but he can’t defend. When he does higher in the level, he needs to head balls, tackle people, and have strength one v one but he can’t do that, can he play against a (Didier) Drogba or an (Erling) Haaland, no but he can play out the back. We have to look for defenders first, midfielders and so through the team," Hunt said.
One team that's known for having big players is the University of Pretoria, they are known for having physically strong players and playing what some call one-route football and fighting for the second ball. AmaTuks coach Tlisane Motaung explained their recruitment process.
“We know that a lot of SA players are talented, in terms of the formula we are using, you need specific players; one ... you need a coachable player, that is key, two you need a workaholic, a player that works on and off the ball. Three, we look at the physical part, which is strength and physique in terms of your height and muscle, not to say big, even if you are short but have the ability to jump," said Motaung.
“I always tell my technical staff that SA players are talented but the way we are playing, you need to wear glasses in terms of what we are looking for. We look at speedy players, physically strong and aerially dominant players, and we feel for our team to be competitive we need those components," he said.
In trying to explain why SA does not produce physically strong players, Safa's technical director Walter Steenbok suggested that this is a regional problem combined with genetics and nutrition.
"This has to do with genetics, physiology and maybe nutrition. This is an important observation but I won’t say it’s only SA, it’s the whole of Cosafa (or SADC region). If you look at Zambia, Malawi and Namibia it’s what it is now. The most important thing now is how do we prepare our players, and how do we have a playing philosophy that accommodates what we have," said Steenbok during a Safa press conference.
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