1996 African Cup Of Nations winner Eric Tinkler applauded Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos for his use of Mamelodi Sundowns players in the national team.
Bafana started the tournament with a loss to Mali before hammering Namibia 4-0 and drawing with Africa’s third Tunisia by 0-0 and booked a place into the round of 16.
The 1996 AFCON winners then faced Africa’s number one ranked team Morocco who they defeated by 2-0 to march on to the quarterfinals.
Broos’ side then eliminated Cape Verde on penalties after Ronwen Williams showed great heroics saving four penalties, sending Bafana to the semis for the first time since 2000.
Nigeria ended South Africa’s fairytale on penalties by 4-2 but Bafana went on to clinch third against DR Congo, with Williams again the hero in a shootout.
Tinkler, who won the tournament under the late Clive Barker, mentioned that it was a good choice that Broos played more Sundowns as they understand each other.
“They surprised me..to be honest because I went to watch them against Lesotho and they were terrible, they were terrible against Lesotho and I was worried,” Tinkler told the media.
“I think the coach done the right thing, I think we were all saying that you need to put in the Sundowns players that must be the core of the team and when he done that I thought it worked.
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“They changed the brand of football to a degree, we looked to play on the counter and the transitions and we looked dangerous, whereas before we were looking for a possession game, slow, we weren’t offering anything in attack.
“But congratulations to them because what is it, 24 years, since Bafana’s been in the semis – that’s an achievement, we should actually be quite happy with the fact that they’ve achieved that, it’s a step in the right direction.”
