Quinton Fortune, signed in 1999, had been part of the South Africa squad that fell just short of defending their continental title in the previous year and the versatile Red was back for the Bafana Bafana in the year 2000.
It was a peripatetic winter for Fortune, who travelled to the tournament fresh off the back of scoring twice for United against South Melbourne in the Club World Cup in Brazil.
Seemingly unaffected by jet-lag, Quinton started five straight games for the 1996 champions, as they topped their group and beat one co-host, Ghana, in the quarter-final, before falling to the other, Nigeria, at the semi-final stage.