Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula believes the South African Football Association need to take a more scientific approach to football in order to help the national team's progression.
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Bafana Bafana's 17-year wait for a major piece of silverware will have to continue after they were dumped out of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals following their penalty shoot-out defeat to Mali on Saturday.
The side have come under intense criticism in the last few years following failed bids to qualify for the AFCON finals in 2010 and 2012, although they helped polish their tarnished image with some impressive displays at this year's tournament prior to their exit this weekend.
Mbalula believes now is the time to build on their showing, and has earmarked a forward-thinking approach as key to achieving their goals.
"We will solicit expert and scientific advice from leading thinkers in the field of sports sciences with a view to examine in a holistic sense the size, shape, and strengths of our football players, nutrition, access to modern technology, sports psychology, early childhood preparations for high performance sports, and so on," he said.
"It's time now for all role-players in football to go back to the drawing board. We have started the building blocks on a positive note and can see a ray of hope looming large in the horizon.
"We need to draw our lessons from this AFCON tournament as we prepare for the qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil, but we need to urgently work on an overall and comprehensive long-term strategy for a scientific athlete development plan."
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