You can count on one hand the number of South Africans who are coaching at a professional level outside the country, but heading that small list is former Bafana Bafana left-back Bradley Carnell.
Carnell, who also spent 12 years playing in Germany and featured for Wits University, Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United in his homeland, is assistant coach at New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer after leaving a similar position with Orlando Pirates earlier this year.
It was a move built on the respect he gained in the German Bundesliga and playing at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan and, for Carnell, it is just the beginning.
His move to Red Bulls came out of the blue for many fans, but there is no doubt that Carnell was gaining a reputation; first as coach of University of Pretoria, then as assistant at Free State Stars and Pirates, despite the struggles of the Soweto giants last season.
"It has always been one of my interests to train and coach at the best level possible and with a network in Europe and Germany specifically, there is long-lasting friendships and relationships that have been established over the years," Carnell tells KweséESPN at the Red Bull training base in Whippany, New Jersey.
"Towards the end of November last year I got a call for a couple of positions within the franchise of Red Bull and one was as assistant coach in New York. It was something that, at the time, being at Pirates, I wasn't really interested in, but there are certain things in your life that you have to take seriously when they come along.
"I just thought, 'I have had a couple of months at Free State Stars, a couple of months at Orlando Pirates, and especially with the way things were panning out at Pirates' ... it was a chance for another stepping stone in my career, moving abroad.
"It took my family and me by storm, but it is something I have been striving for and working towards.
"I flew to Germany in early January [2017] to meet the guys at the head of the football franchise there. The meetings went very well and I had a couple of hours via Skype with the staff here in New York.
"There were a lot of interviews and because of the visa situation, it was a bit tedious. I couldn't just fly in and fly out again; I would have preferred that and it would have been a lot better in terms of organisation and getting together with the team earlier on.
"The process took a few months and then round about mid-March I knew it was becoming a little bit more firm and that this would transpire. I joined the team on March 30 and the next day I was on an away trip to Houston!"
Carnell says he has been well received by the players and coaching staff at the club, and feels like he has contributed to getting the team into the MLS playoffs this year.
"I'm not the most talkative guy -- I rather lead by showing -- so for me it's, 'let's get onto the [training] field and do the talking there'. That's where I have found my niche with the players, especially the younger guys.
"They are always asking questions about my career and I'm sure most of them strive to go to Europe one day. With the resources and friends we have in Germany, it is something that is a lot closer to most than if they were at other clubs."
Carnell says one of the major differences between coaching in South Africa and the United States is the detail the teams go into with the players.
"We [coaching staff] get in around 07h15 in the morning and training is scheduled for 10h00 or 10h30," he says. "We will have a meeting, usually a video meeting either reviewing what we have done in the past games, or a preview of the next opponents. We go into a lot of detail about that with our sports analyst.
"We do a lot of edits for the players, whether its individual edits to show them something or individual meetings with the players. We train for an hour or an hour-and-a-half depending on which day it is and what the workload is required.
"Something quite new to what I am used to, either in Europe or South Africa, is that we only train once a day. The players come in from different areas of all over New Jersey, but instead of training an extra session, we do a lot of private stuff with them, and a lot of stuff with our strengths and conditioning coaches.
"We do a video session every day, the players are learning every day ... even if they take a little bit out of it, get a little bit better."
Given the detail that goes into developing players, Carnell feels it is a good environment for Africans to advance in the game with such high-level support.
"When I was growing up, even in the schooling, the guys started coming around and asking if we wanted to go the United States and study and play soccer, and you can see it has carried on even now.
"A lot of guys have come through the college system and are playing at the various levels, whether it is USL (United Soccer League) or NASL (North American Soccer League), and have used this platform to springboard their careers."
He says the level of the MLS has surprised him, even if his side are not typical in the way in which they approach the game.
"The level is always expanding and growing. Usually the MLS was seen as a retirement league, but we have tried to flip the coin and make this a development structure for us.
"We have put more into it than any other team in terms of the academy we have. Part of the funds used to build the academy was the sale of Matt Miazga to Chelsea."
Carnell is loath to compare working in South Africa and the United States, but says at times the emotions of the game in the former mean clubs do not always act in the most professional way.
"The emotions that are around in the South African game ... at times you have to be truly professional. A lot of teams are personally owned, as they are here, but that sometimes gets in the way of the daily working environment," he says. "It's very different to compare because this environment here is unique. Even in Germany, I have been in some great teams, but I certainly didn't feel the environment that I do here.
"It's therefore unfair to judge because nothing exceeds this for me; just the day-to-day approach of the players and coaches, all for the one good reason, which is to make the team better."
He also bemoans the lack of progress made with the South African national team in recent years and suggests this could be due to the fact that not as many players are heading overseas to play at a higher level.
"South Africa, after the [2010] World Cup, there has been a lot going for us and we just haven't got to that next level in terms of a national team format," he said.
"[Before] Qualifying for a World Cup wasn't a problem, qualifying for AFCON [Africa Cup of Nations] back then, it wasn't even an issue. The [domestic] league is so strong, it's well run, you would just hope for more at the gate to make it more interesting for the players.
"The financial well-being of the players has got to the stage where they are wondering, 'Do I go overseas or do I stay at home? I've got my family, my friends in the neighbourhood, I don't have to leave the city'. I wish more players would leave their comfort zones."