In this first edition of 'In the hotseat', former Bafana Bafana coach Ted Dumitru reveals the real reason behind Bafana Bafana’s disastrous African Cup of Nations campaign in Egypt in 2006, Benni McCarthy and Bafana skipper Aaron Mokoena.

Speaking exclusively to iafrica.com's Khaya Ndubane, Dumitru also reveals exactly why he thinks Bafana will not do well in the 2010 World Cup.

Q&A with Ted Dumitru!

Khaya Ndubane (KN): You have been labelled as one of Bafana Bafana's worst coaches because of your record in the 2006 Afcon in Egypt. Please tell what really happened in Egypt.

Ted Dumitru (TD): Thanks Khaya, for affording me the opportunity to put matters into perspective. The real reasons why we did badly in Egypt was because of Safa reneging on their promise to pay players their bonuses for the Egypt match. If you look at that Egypt match we played very poorly and you know what happened. Why?

KN: Please tell us!

TD: On the eve of the Egypt match, the players were promised bonuses for a win and they won that match. Safa then changed their tune and said the match was a training match and therefore the players would not be paid any bonuses. When senior players like Benni McCarthy questioned Safa they were labelled unpatriotic and as having bad influence on the other players. The truth is that Benni and the other players were representing the players who were claiming what was promised to them by Safa. You can just imagine the players’ morale ahead of their first match in the Afcon and to make matters worse we had chosen a lot of youngsters for that tournament so then this bonus thing demoralised them.

KN: Talking about Benni McCarthy, do you think that he needs to be recalled to the national team?

TD: Benni wants to play for Bafana and there is no question about that, but what I have seen is that Benni is still angry with Safa because of that Egypt saga. I'm afraid that if Safa are not willing to apologise to Benni, they won't see the best of him even if he is recalled. My view is that the new Safa leadership needs to fix the problem with Benni before they consider him for the national team. There is also a question about his fitness, but there is no doubt that Benni is a quality striker.

KN: There have also been calls for Aaron Mokoena to be axed as Bafana captain as well, what are your views on that?

TD: I said three years ago that Aaron was the weakest link in the Bafana central defence and so I did not choose him for the Egypt tour. I received a lot of criticism for that from the media and Aaron himself. He was later recalled into the Bafana squad, but now the same media is preaching exactly what I said three years ago — that Aaron is the weakest link.

KN: Who do you think should captain Bafana?

TD: It is up to the new coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to choose a captain so whoever I choose may not be what Parreira wants, so we will just have to wait and see. A captain should be someone that the entire team can look up to when the chips are down. It can be either a midfielder who makes things happen in the midfield, or a defender who marshals his defence well, and who can launch attacks from the back. There are players like that in the Bafana set-up so it won't be difficult to choose a captain.

KN: Ted, thanks for talking to us.

Ted: My pleasure Khaya.

Ted has certainly cleared the air — what are your thoughts on Bafana Bafana, Benni and the captain? Leave all your comments below!

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