A South African coach based in the USA has challenged Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos over the disregard of players such as Tsiki Ntsabeleng.
Ntshabeleng's career in the USA has blossomed since leaving South Africa in 2018, as he made a breakthrough to play for the Major League Soccer (MLS) club FC Dallas in January 2022.
Although he featured for the junior national teams, the Kaizer Chiefs academy graduate has been overlooked in the senior national team despite playing top flight football in America against the likes of Lionel Messi, Riqui Puig, Emil Forsberg and Sergio Busquets among others notable names.
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SA-born coach Kyle Timm, currently head coach of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), says he's surprised why Bafana coaches don't call USA-based South African players to have a proper look at them before passing judgement.
"Number one, the highest level player currently [who is overlooked] is Tsiki Ntsabeleng, playing for MLS side FC Dallas, he's a player I brought from Chiefs in 2018," Timm told KickOff in an exclusive interview.
"I saw him play for the U20 national team, I followed him and I saw him play for UJ, so I thought this boy takes his studies seriously. After I spoke to his parents, it was easy to bring him over. He already has quite a lot of publicity.
"What is weird is, if you're not sure, call him up for the COSAFA Cup, bring all these guys in the USA, if you're not sure about the division [and their level] and see them live and then you can decide maybe I can bring these boys to a full national team camp or you can decide they are not good enough.
"The opinion that you see when you watch the game (on video) is inaccurate because not all players are easy on the eye."
Timm also rates South African striker Yazeed Matthews highly, who plays for Detroit City in the USL Championship (second-tier in America).
"For example, I'm not saying Lyle Foster is a bad player but he played for a team that got relegated in the Premier League, he scored five goals or whatever but you don't discredit him because of the team he's playing for.
"You don't discredit him because he scored five goals because we know he's a good player. So my thought is bring these players for the COSAFA Cup (for example) and see the quality yourself," Timm added.