Igesund lets Pienaar walk away
Midfielder joins list of players who dumped squad at peak of their careers
EVERTON midfielder Steven Pienaar yesterday resigned from the national soccer team with immediate effect and joined a growing list of European-based players who have turned their backs on their country at the peak of their careers.
Pienaar wrote a letter to the South African Football Association (Safa) this week and said his body was tired after playing for Bafana for a decade, and he no longer wanted to be considered by national team coach Gordon Igesund.
Igesund said he accepted Pienaar’s decision yesterday and defender Bongani Khumalo would continue as national team captain.
Pienaar was captain under former Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane and highly placed insiders told Business Day that the midfielder was furious when he heard that there was doubt over whether he would retain the armband after Igesund was appointed coach in June.
But Igesund said yesterday he did not think that Pienaar had retired in a huff because he was upset by the furious speculation around who would captain the national team.
The Bafana coach said while losing a player of Pienaar’s calibre so close to the 2013 African Nations Cup was a huge blow — the event will get under way in SA from January 19 — he would not allow the shock decision to detract from his goals of getting SA ready for the continental showpiece.
“From a coaching point of view, it is very disappointing because he would have obviously played a huge role in the African Nations Cup,” the Bafana coach said.
“But I think we should respect his decision. So let us give him the credit and the respect he deserves.
“I am just happy that he has come out and set the record straight instead of sitting on the fence.”
Pienaar joins a band of players who have turned their back on SA while based in Europe. The controversial list includes Quinton Fortune, Benni McCarthy and Mark Fish.
Igesund said he would allow Pienaar space and would not pressure the midfielder and try to seek a solution similar to one he brokered with controversial Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs.
Josephs resigned from the squad in May. Close friend Benni McCarthy said at the time the goalkeeper had dumped the team “in frustration” when it dawned on him that former Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane would always give the No 1 jersey to Kaizer Chiefs’ Itumeleng Khune.
Igesund insisted that Josephs’ resignation was different from Pien- aar’s and this is why he preferred to leave the Everton player alone.
“Moeneeb retired because he had issues. Pienaar has retired because he says his body is tired. Pienaar is very far from my thoughts right now. So good luck to him and good luck to his club, Everton.”
Igesund yesterday announced the squad to face Poland in a friendly international in Warsaw on October 12 and Kenya on October 16.
Veteran winger Delron Buckley was the biggest surprise as the 34year-old has not donned a Bafana jersey in four years. But Igesund said he had seen enough of Buckley’s performances for Maritzburg United since his return from Germany to be impressed.
“He has looked very impressive for Maritzburg United. The problem is I do not have a lot of time before the start of the African Nations Cup and that is why he is in the team.”
South Africans will get to see what the fuss is all about around Ricardo Nunes after the Slovakiabased left-back was called to the squad. Nunes was born in SA but spent most of his life in Europe and has never played for Bafana.