Barker in support of local players January 31, 2009 Former AmaZulu and South African Veteran Coach, Clive Barker has applauded the principle employed by the current coach of having 60 to 70% local players for the World Cup squad.

The Bafana Bafana coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, has maintained that it would be like changing horses in midstream to outlook all the players that have impressed in Bafana Bafana’s Durban camp.

Parreira has reassured South Africans that “It was very important to see the local players closely. Obviously though you cannot judge a player in a national team in two games - we have to keep giving them the opportunity,” he said.

The Brazilian said he was fairly satisfied with the commitment of the players in the past 12 days. 1996 AFCON winning coach Clive Barker has always been known to favour local players and expressed this on his this column on amazulufc.net.

“It was a good result and particularly the second was of good quality. Parreira would have had felt two weeks of training in Durban were worthwhile.

“The most vital thing for now is to go into stronger opposition with more confidence to tackle the experience of our opponents, “ said ‘The Dog’.

Barker also showed hesitation on the question of whether players like Bradley Carnell and Delron Buckley could be useful when called upon.

“We always respect like Buckley and Quintin Fortune but like any other thing, times move on. I believe local players forming the core of the 23 squad for the World Cup, “ concluded Barker.