Sono: NASL South Africans could have won World Cup

• AP, Friday, July 2, 2010 3:15 AM

Jomo Sono, while happy that the World Cup has come to South Africa, bemoans South Africa's exclusion from international soccer in the late 1970s and early 1980s when South Africa's greatest generation of stars played in the NASL. "I'm not being cocky," he said. "We would have definitely won the World Cup."

South Africa's apartheid policy meant that it was excluded from international soccer and its best players -- white and black players like Steve Wegerle, Neill Roberts, Webster Lichaba, Ace Ntsoelengoe and Sono -- moved to the NASL. "We could have made a big difference in the world," Sono mused. "But we cannot be sad."

Sono, who played briefly for the New York Cosmos, later returned home to form Jomo Cosmos and became a successful coach and businessman.

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