Man of the moment Alexander rewarded with first Bafana Bafana call-up
MITCHELL’S Plain midfielder Cole Alexander has bashed down the Bafana Bafana door and was yesterday included in head coach Shakes Mashaba’s 30-man squad for friendly matches against Swaziland in Mbabane on Wednesday, March 25, and Nigeria at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Sunday, March 29.
After a disappointing campaign in the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Equatorial Guinea in January, Mashaba also saw fit to finally include the country’s top overseas-based players – Thulani Serero, Ayanda Patosi and Kamohelo Mokotjo – who were all absent from the continental tournament.
May Mahlangu was also named, although his selection still has to be confirmed because he is currently suffering from injury at his Turkish club, Konyaspor.
Also back is Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, after a lengthy spell out through injury. The charismatic keep- er has only recently started playing for his club.
But it’s the former Ajax man Alexander who is the man of the moment. He has been in fantastic form since moving to Polokwane. Earlier, there had even been a suggestion that he may make the Afcon squad. He didn’t – but so impressive have his performances for Polokwane been that he simply couldn’t be ignored.
Alexander came through the Ajax youth academy, but just couldn’t break into the Cape club’s senior team. He played occasionally, but could never cement a place. At the beginning of the season, he moved to Polokwane. It proved to be an inspired decision by the Capetonian – and his hard work and sacrifice have now been rewarded with a Bafana call-up.
Others to be handed their first national call- up include Thapelo Morena (Bloemfontein Celtic), Daniel Cardoso ( Free State Stars), Thabo Mnyamane ( University of Pretoria), Siphelele Ntshangase (Black Leopards) and exciting 20-year-old Brondby FC (Denmark) midfielder, Lebogang Phiri.
Phiri, who was in the Wits academy, has been in fine form for the Danish team.
“We engaged with some of the overseas-based players (Serero, Mokotjo and Patosi) and we’ve come to an agreement with them,” said Mashaba.
“These are important matches… soon we will be going back to the qualifiers again, so this is a good exercise for us in preparation. The games also give us an opportunity to widen our base for selection because we will use some players for the Swaziland match and others for the Nigeria match. Our main task is to build a new team, a team that will bring results.
“We are going to Swaziland, and we should not forget that any team that plays South Africa wants to win. As for Nigeria we know they are tough and arrogant, and you can never be arrogant if you are not confident. So we have to go and compete, not just tactically, but also mentally and physically. Let’s also not forget they might come here spitting fire because we denied them a chance to go to Afcon.”