'Rodrygo is the same as Relebohile Mofokeng of Orlando Pirates in size' - former Fifa Club World Cup coach on why South Africa is failing to produce the quality of Ronaldo, Mane, Neymar and Vinicius Junior

Pitso Mosimane has stated why he thinks South Africa is struggling to produce world-class players.

After working in the Middle East where he came up against world-celebrated players, the experienced tactician, who has coached Al Ahly and Mamelodi Sundowns at the Fifa Club World Cup, has pointed at what he sees as a drawback locally.

"I've been playing against Sadio Mane, Ronaldo, Reyad Mahrez, [you can] mention all these big names, I've played against them on the pitch, [N'Golo] Kante and all that and then I see the real challenge we have in South Africa, why we don't have players in those spaces," Mosimane said on eNCA as per KickOff.

"Everybody talks about football development but we don't talk about how to do that? How to do is the programme, positioning, manipulating the ball, we need that because that's what makes Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo. 

"We need the physical side, speed is part of the physical side. We need nutrition, how to condition the player and it's not about the size, Rodrygo is the same as Mofokeng of Pirates [in size], it's a package," added the former Bafana Bafana coach.

"Also, not forgetting the mentality and the social life, social life skills, the attitude to win, to persevere, how much more do you want it. We don't have that culture in the country." 

South Africa has been struggling to produce players who go to play Premier League football in the mould of Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena.

Another justification that world-class players are not produced is that Bafana Bafana last qualified for the Fifa World Cup in 2002 before hosting the tournament eight years after they became the first hosts to be eliminated at the group stage.

The current Bafana side is bidding to to qualify for the 2026 World Cup under Hugo Broos and securing a ticket could justify that quality players are being developed locally.

South Africa players will also be trying to do better than their performance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals where they claimed a bronze medal.

It is also to be seen if promising youngsters like Relebohile Mofokeng, Mohau Nkota, Mduduzi Shabalala and Malibongwe Khoza can rise to be mentioned in the same breath as McCarthy and Pienaar.