The Tembisa-born midfielder worked with the 75-year-old coach at Mpumalanga Black Aces and he believes he’s good enough to be the team’s engine
Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki must build his team around Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Themba Zwane.
This is according to former tactician Clive Barker who likened Zwane to Doctor Khumalo although he confessed that Tembisa-born star is not as good as the Kaizer Chiefs legend.
Barker worked with Khumalo at Bafana Bafana in the 1990s while he coached Zwane at Mpumalanga Black Aces over five years ago.
“Build the team around Themba Zwane. In different ways, he reminds me a lot of Doctor Khumalo,” Barker told MarawaTV.
“He is not as good as Doctor but he creates things and scores goals‚ he gets himself in the box where he is very good. I was delighted to watch his career and I think we can build around him,” he said.
The 75-year-old further stated he would have loved it if another coach came close to emulating his 1996 Afcon success, adding that people are tired of hearing about the class of 1996.
To date, Barker remains the only coach to have won the Afcon trophy with Bafana Bafana.
“I would have loved it if someone came close to winning the [Africa] Cup of Nations. People are tired of hearing the success of 1996,” he added.
Jomo Sono and Trott Moloto came close to lifting the trophy with South Africa in 1998 and 2000 respectively.
During the 1998 edition, Bafana finished as runners-up after losing 2-0 to eventual winners Egypt with Sono as their head coach.
Two years later, Bafana walked away with the Bronze medal after beating Tunisia through penalties in the third/fourth play-offs.
Since then, the closest they have come to reaching the final was exiting the continental tournament at the quarter-final stage under various coaches, including in 2019 when Stuart Baxter was in charge of the team.
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