Bafana Bafana should not be struggling to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. Yet they do. Granted, all teams go through cycles in their performance, but we seem to go from mediocre to bad.

For far too long we have failed to reach our full potential and I feel Safa must shoulder the blame. Paying coaches exorbitant sums of money to achieve unrealistic results has been one of its favourite formulae. Has it worked? I think not.

Without players who can compete and excel at the top level of the game, the coaches can do only so much and herein, I believe, lies the problem.

If Safa were to set up an academy that nurtures and hones the growth of talented youngsters, we will see the benefits down the line. Most top players went through some kind of football academy when they were young.

This is a medium-to-long-term goal, but I strongly feel that this is the way forward.