FANCY A GAME FOR BAFANA? THEN GET TO CHIEFS

DONNING the colours of Bafana Bafana is elementary nowadays. Anyone can play for the national team.

The caps are so cheap. You play three matches and you are in to the national set-up.

I don’t have any issues with Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma. He has a bright future ahead of him, but at the same time he should work diligently to earn his place in the Bafana set-up.

I was astonished when coach Stuart Baxter included Bvuma in the Bafana squad that will lock horns with Libya in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in neutral Tunisia later this month.

Obviously he won’t play as the battle for the number one jersey is between Darren Keet and Ronwen Williams.

But is he really deserving of his place? I don’t think so. Bvuma has featured in just three games for Amakhosi in 2019 and yet he is in the national squad. This is a joke.

I mean, like three games and then you are in the Bafana squad. Does playing for Chiefs and Orlando Pirates guarantee you a place in the national squad? Is playing for these Soweto giants a shortcut to earning a place in the national team?

It is unfair to Bvuma because he didn’t select himself.

He is a player with immense talent but he still needs time to prove himself. He is destined for greatness but the national selectors are putting him under unnecessary pressure.

The next thing, Bvuma will commit a mistake at club level and fans will be critical of him.

They will start to question the reason why he was called into the national squad.

Baxter should allow Bvuma to grow and build his reputation and then he can call him into the national set-up if he is still the coach.

I fully understand that Baxter didn’t have much option in terms of a third-choice keeper.

Most of the goal-minders in the PSL are from foreign countries.

Baxter had Wayne Sandilands (Orlando Pirates), Siyabonga Mbatha (AmaZulu), Mbongeni Mzimela (Chippa United), King Ndlovu (Black Leopards) and Nkosingiphile Gumede (Lamontville Golden Arrows).

I believe he should have chosen from these keepers, who have played many more matches than Bvuma, while Sandilands and Gumede have been part of the Bafana squad before.

Gumede won the Cosafa Cup with Bafana in 2015 and was in the Olympic squad in Brazil.

Sandilands has had his opportunities but fluffed them, while Mzimela was the vital cog for Chippa during their Caf Champions League campaign.

Baxter made a huge mistake. Bvuma doesn’t deserve the barrage of criticism because he didn’t select himself. Is Baxter only watching the elite teams?

We are in this predicament because of Itumeleng Khune’s injury. Baxter is facing a conundrum as to who will play in the crucial Afcon qualifier against Libya next week.

It remains to be seen who he will select to start against the Libyans – Williams or Keets.

Baxter needs to respect other teams in the PSL and stop this tendency of watching only the so-called big teams.

You cannot play three games for your club and then you are in the Bafana squad.

That can’t be allowed to happen. Never!