SAFA technical director Neil Tovey says he is not in a position to tell Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter who and how to play.
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Baxter came under fire for how Bafana played during the Africa Cup of Nations group stages, while many questioned his decision to not give Thembinkosi Lorch a single minute on the pitch in the three matches against Ivory Coast, Namibia and Morocco.
Despite all of this, Bafana are in the final eight of the competition, with the likes of Benin, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Madagascar, Algeria and Ivory Coast.
"It's not my duty to tell him who to play. Yes, we will display areas and so on after the tournament and the likes, but he has a strong enough technical brain and a strong enough technical team around him to inform him of who must play and who must not play or who is looking good at training," Tovey said during a SAFA press conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Tuesday morning.
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"Even the goalkeeping has come under discussion points and they are his choices. I don't think anybody expected Ronwen to play in the first match, given [Darren] Keet's performance against Libya [in the final AFCON qualifier]. As much as you might think he is technically inept, I don't think so. But we all have our own choices about players and the qualities they will add to the team. That's why the coach is the coach, because he has to make those critical decisions. He has to make the decisions, I will not tell him what to do. Otherwise I'll tell him what to do and then you'll say I'm a wannabe coach. That's where you [the media] will turn it around and say why is the technical director telling the coach what to do?"
Bafana will take on Nigeria at Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday (21h00).