'Politics came in' - How Safa's meddling turned Bafana's 1998 World Cup dream into a 'disaster'

FILE PHOTO: Former Bafana Bafana coach Phillipe Troussier at a training session with striker Shaun Bartlett.

The 1998 Fifa World Cup was meant to be a celebration of South Africa’s first appearance at the global quadrennial football extravaganza.

But the road to France ‘98 was one of much sadness and regret for a group of players who had bathed their country in glory just two years earlier by winning the 1996 AFCON on home soil at the first attempt, and then earning World Cup qualification under their beloved coach Clive Barker.

“When you have a coach who stands by his team and really supports them, it's a glue between everyone that will never … never break,” said striker Shaun Bartlett, who would go on to score a double against Saudi Arabia in Bafana Bafana’s final group game in Bordeaux.

“He [Barker] could make you feel like you could run against Usain Bolt. That’s the type of character he was.”