SAFA and Bafana Bafana have been challenged to up their game in how they scout players overseas after Tashreeq Matthews fell under the radar despite an outstanding 2022/23 season in Sweden.
Matthews, currently at Mamelodi Sundowns, had the highest goal-contribution of any South African forward last season playing for IK Sirius, after eventually finishing 2022/23 with 10 goals and 10 assists.
However, the former Borussia Dortmund youth and reserve attacker did not get any call-up throughout his best campaign in the Allsvenskan.
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Criticism towards Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos was sharper after he left Pyramids striker Fagrie Lakay out of the Africa Cup of Nations squad in January, despite having two key strikers, in Lyle Foster and Lebogang Mothiba, not available.
Lakay, despite scoring 12 goals and registering four assists for Pyramids in the season prior, could not get a look-in at Bafana.
Matthews' agent, Lance Davids, says it was disheartening for the 23-year-old to be scoring all the goals while in Sweden, only for the national team coach to turn a blind eye.
"As a country, it's a wrong way of looking, everyone is always complaining about why we don't send young players to Europe. Sometimes in today's football, mentally it can hit the player. They are doing their best, they are scoring the goals, they do everything they should do, but they don't get the call-up," Davids said on 947's MSW.
"The coaches make the decision and have the final say, but I just think on that, don't get me wrong, but not one of the South Africans from SAFA spoke to the club of Tashy, not once. No one came to watch him live in one game. They are watching on Wyscout. I can also open my laptop and watch on Wyscout, it's not a problem.
"But did they speak to Tashy? If you look at the (now former) Nigerian coach (Jose Peseiro), he flew all the way from Nigeria to come to the coach of Chippa United and visit the player (Stanley Nwabali). We have all these resources in South Africa, but we're not using them enough and this is the example. Tashy was doing well.
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"Yes, it's (the) Swedish league, but where do players from Swedish league go? They go play in the Premier League, Belgium league, Spanish league. Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) went from Sweden to Halland to play for Ajax. The question is always why we don't send players to Europe, it's because of these types of situations," lamented Davids.
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