Cape Town - After another disappointing 0-0 draw for Bafana Bafana, this time against Gambia in an AFCON 2017 qualifier, coach Shakes Mashaba has refused to take the blame.
Bafana missed a host of goal-scoring chances at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday, and quite understandably Mashaba has insisted that there was little he could do about it.
"We always try and address problems at the wrong level…the national team level,” said Mashaba, according to PSL's official website.
“We've developed habits here now, good, bad, ugly straight and we can't change them at this level. Never! You can't. They have to grow up with it.
"We need to get high skilled and qualified manpower to work at the grass root level. And those people must be well-looked after because it's not an easy thing.
"There are 16 teams in the PSL. We got 16 coaches plus their co-workers. All of them, they talk about scoring goals, the problem. And where do we get those players that are playing in the national team?
"From the very same clubs. Now we expect when the national team gets together for four days, and it's not even four days, how do you solve the problem of scoring goals? We bring players in, we guide them and that is all. We're not making players here."
Sport24 spoke to Ted Dumitru before the game on Saturday and he too believes that it is unconstructive to lay blame on the coach for all the failings of the national team.