“Troussier should never have been the coach …” – Mark Fish
CAPE TOWN – Former Bafana Bafana defender Mark Fish has lambasted coach Philippe Troussier, who took the team to the 1998 World Cup in France.
The South African national football team, despite having won the Africa Cup of Nations two years prior, were in turmoil following the sacking of Clive Barker and needed a coach at the last minute to take them to their first ever World Cup.
Safa had appointed Jomo Sono on an interim basis and the team finished as runners-up at that year’s Afcon in Egypt, but the bosses at the top wanted a bigger name to take the team to the global showpiece in France. Enter Troussier, who had been the head coach of Kaizer Chiefs in 1994.
Under the Frenchman, Bafana Bafana were woeful, losing the opening game 3-0 to host nation and eventual champions France and drawing their games against Denmark and Saudi Arabia to get eliminated in the first round.
Now, Fish has revealed what he really thought about the man who was in-charge of the team during the tournament.
“Many things happened at France 98,” Fish wrote on Twitter.
“Troussier should never have been the coach as we were separated from the beginning when he said local based players one side and foreign based players the other. He was an idiot.”
IOL Sport
