Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo has insisted the Premier Soccer League deserved more credit for producing quality players that wrote history and qualified for the first-ever World Cup knockout stages.
Hugo Broos named a Bafana Bafana squad that is dominated by players playing in the PSL, with 17 local-based players in his selection.
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South Africa has the most African-based players in the FIFA World Cup and this is not something new, as they also had a squad dominated by local players in AFCON in Ivory Coast and went to win bronze medal.
The PSL has proven to be a competitive league as Mamelodi Sundowns reached back-to-back CAF Champions League finals, and Orlando Pirates reaching semi-finals last season.
The product that PSL produces also showed when Sundowns shocked the world in last year’s FIFA Club World Cup, with Khumalo hailing the league.
“Of course the players are allowed to celebrate but they mustn’t forgot that there’s another game waiting for them. So obviously they will go back and refocus,” he said on SABC3.
“But again talking about South Africa, I’m happy because at least we’ve been to four editions of the World Cup and the fourth one is giving us the direction as a country.
“Are we a country that is going to sit back in terms of our players are not playing on Europe but those who are local are playing in a better league and we should build up from that, from the under-17 to the under-23.
“PSL will always give us better players so we need to also applaud the PSL.”