Mnyamane on a mission for Bafana spot

THABO Mnyamane knows that, on a personal level, tomorrow’s Nedbank Cup final against Orlando Pirates is a chance for the SuperSport United forward to stake a claim for a Bafana Bafana place.

Mnyamane was left out of SuperSport coach Stuart Baxter’s first Bafana Bafana squad that beat Nigeria 2-0 in Uyo in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on June 10.

His was one of the few question mark omissions as Baxter named a strong Bafana squad, juggling his new national team duties with ending his contract at SuperSport‚ including a chance at Matsatsantsa retaining the Nedbank trophy in a repeat of last year’s final.

In-form Mnyamane, with 11 goals in all competitions in 2016-17, is hoping that a good performance at the Moses Mabhida Stadium will make it hard for his club coach to ignore the former Pretoria University FC forward once Baxter becomes full-time Bafana boss.

“I believe we’re doing so well in this league [the PSL] – every player is doing well domestically‚ and abroad,” Mnyamane said

“It’s good for the coach to have a headache selecting players.

“I believe my chance will come again. I believe that when they announce the next squad I will be there, but I need to deliver domestically.”

Mnyamane said SuperSport’s players had taken in their stride a situation where Baxter had to leave Matsatsantsa for a period for the Nigeria game‚ with assistant coach Kaitano Tembo taking over in Caf Confederation Cup games.

“The team has been managing the situation very well,” he said.

“We went to TP Mazembe without the coach [Baxter] and we got a great result.”

SuperSport drew 2-2 against Mazembe in the Democratic Republic of Congo on June 4.

“So we’re balancing between him being here and him being away,” Mnyamane said.

“For us it hasn’t been a train smash because we are very professional as players and the management has helped us cope with it very well.

“Being his last official game for the club it’s going to be a special one for him. And for us as a collective.”