Shaun Bartlett shares message for Bafana Bafana on discipline

While not directly commenting on Hugo Broos’ public reprimanding of defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi for his alleged misconduct, Bartlett made it clear that the responsibility ultimately lies with the player. 

The former striker emphasised that discipline is a minimum requirement for any professional footballer.  

"I don't mess around – that's the first thing of playing football. If you're late for a training [session] or a meeting, that's part of discipline," stressed Bartlett.

"And I've always said it to players, the way you play your football is the way you live your life, and if you're going to be careless off the field that's the way you're going to be in a team environment too.

"So when it comes to dicscipline and whatever coaches' rules are, you've got to respect that and I think you're an individual but you're part of a team, and you can't have ill-discipline before a massive tournament for South Africa, if we want to win it."

READ: Williams: Bafana to double efforts for AFCON glory

The 1996 AFCON winner advocated for a holistic approach, not just the results.  

"I'll be honest in saying, I don't know what exactly he said, but like I mentioned the discipline part is part of a wholistic approach in getting football results," he added.

"It's not just about training and playing, even the mental aspect and nutrition – everything, even strength and conditioning, all goes hand-in-hand to get results, it's not just one thing that will get us winning this AFCON in Morocco."