EXCLUSIVE: The former Bafana Bafana midfielder was impressed with the defender’s performances at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations but believes the national team lacks experience
Former Manchester United midfielder Quinton Fortune has backed young defender Rivaldo Coetzee to be a star of the future for South Africa but believes a lack of experience cost the national team at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Bafana Bafana were drawn into a difficult group containing Ghana, Senegal and Algeria and finished fourth with just one point from their three matches.
And while Fortune is concerned about the lack of South African players currently playing in major European leagues, he does hope Coetzee can lead a generation capable of moving on from the domestic top flight.
"If you look at our team in 1998 [when South Africa finished as runners up], most of our players were playing all over Europe, which helped the national team," he told Goal.
"They have a lot of good young players but they lack experience and they were going to find it tough in that group.
"The player that caught my eye for Bafana is Coetzee. He's been outstanding so far from what I've heard and I got the opportunity to see him for 90 minutes against Ghana.
"He looked really, really good – I hope he leaves South Africa as soon as possible to try his luck in Europe."
Watch the video above to hear Fortune's thoughts on South Africa's Afcon performance in full.
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