Chance for new Bafana

BAFANA Bafana are already in Zambia where they open their 2013 Cosafa Cup campaign against Namibia tomorrow and there is one particularly unhappy man in the entourage – Gordon Igesund. The coach was denied the opportunity to select the players he wanted for this regional tournament.

The tournament does not fall under the Fifa calendar and therefore the clubs are not obliged to release players, and Igesund knows this.

Although our wish is to see Bafana Bafana do well in the tournament, we fully agree with the clubs that refused to release their best players.

Kaizer Chiefs, for instance, withdrew the likes of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Bernard Parker, and we believe they were justified in their decision.

This country is gifted with a lot of talent and we find it naïve for Igesund to always call up the same players. What message is he sending to other deserving players from other clubs?

You don’t have to play for the so-called big name clubs to be in the Bafana squad and this is a fact that Igesund should know.

He chose five players from Platinum Stars until they withdrew their influential skipper Vuyo Mere this week.

We are, however, happy that this forced the coach to afford other players an opportunity to wear the Bafana jersey.

We think the time is opportune for the coach to also consider players from the so-called small teams.

He should not be forced to do so by circumstances beyond his control. Selection to the national teams should be done on merit.