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Cape Town - Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has encouraged his players to look to break the rules to benefit their cause.
Mashaba, speaking after his side's 1-1 draw in an international friendly against Ghana in Durban on Tuesday night, zoned in afterwards on Bafana's lack of 'match intelligence'.
His example, which centred around players being smart enough to know when to 'dive' in a match, was puzzling to say the least.
"We’ve got what we call rules and laws," Mashaba said.
"We’ve got the laws of the game, and that you can’t break. But the rules you can break sometimes in order to win a game.
"I mean, if a player runs into the box when he sees things are not going well, what do you do? Break the rules. Dive. If the referee didn’t give [a penalty] … hard luck. But if he gives [a penalty], who benefits? We benefit."
Simulation in football is nothing new and is seen as one of the major problems facing the modern game, but it is very rare to see a coach coming out and encouraging his players to dive.
Bafana are next in action when they host Senegal in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Polokwane on November 12.
