Cosafa Kaap time: Mother City stars to represent SA In Gqeberha tourney
Almost half of the Bafana Bafana squad that reported for duty for the Cosafa Cup in Gqeberha is made up of players from clubs from the Eastern and Western Cape.
The “Kaapse Bafanas” are Asanele Velebayi, Ashley Cupido, Rushwin Dortley and Liam Bern were part of coach Shaun Bartlett’s Spurs side that won promotion from the NFD in the 2022/23 season, along with Stellenbosch trio of Antonio van Wyk, Athenkosi Mcaba and Devin Titus, as well as Keanu Cupido and Jaedin Rhodes of Cape Town City.
In addition, there’s also Sirgio Kammies and Brooklyn Poggenpoel from here but play for Chippa United.
I don’t remember this ever happening before in the 32 years since Bafana returned to international football after the fall of apartheid.
Before the Cosafa Cup, the launchpad into Bafana for local-based stars was a tournament called the Simba Four Nations played between 1994 and 1995.
It was a logistical nightmare for obvious reasons, but as it turned out it was genius and very necessary.
Remember, this was only two years after re-admission to international football, so not a lot of people knew what they were doing; from players, support staff and the local football office bearers, had no clue what they were doing.
The administrators were literally winging it for the most part and making a lot of big and costly mistakes along the way.
Not that much has changed since as far as blunders by Safa are concerned, but that’s a story for another day.
The country was blessed with talent, with some established strikers such as Bennett Masinga, Daniel Mudau, George Dearnaley, Marks Maponyane, Mark Williams with the younger Phil Masinga and Brandan Augustine making things even more difficult for the selectors of that time.
Bartlett, despite being one of the top-scorers in the local league and being based in Cape Town and all, was finding it difficult to break into the squad and playing.
There was a large group of younger players at the time, like Bartlett, that also needed a proper run to showcase what they could do in the national shirt.
The Four Nations turned out to be the perfect platform for the local stars and some overseas-based players to be seen against neighbouring national teams such as Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Congo DR and Brazzaville (Zaire at the time).
Bartlett took his chances with both hands and never looked back and eventually retired as the all-time Bafana goal scorer after passing Masinga.
To this day, only Benni McCarthy has scored more goals in the national shirt.
Bartlett tells Diski Business: “This tournament is and has been the
platform to ignite your international career.
“Many young players that have good tournaments get to display their talent and possible interest from other clubs besides their own.”
While waiting for the next coaching opportunity after his relationship with Spurs ended mid-season, Bartlett has been working on his golf game and plans for his foundation.
He explains: “I am planning to host a golf day in the near future and raise funds for my foundation.
“I have already started doing some coaching clinics with school kids but I want to do more hence the fundraising efforts.”
He will also be in Gqeberha as an as part of the technical study group to observe the talent on display at the tournament kicking off today with the match between Eswatini and Botswana at 3pm, followed by the hosts against neighbouring Islanders Mozambique at 6pm.
The 51-year-old has worked with four of the 11 players vannie Kaap in the squad, before he was dismissed by Cape Town Spurs about eight months ago.
He adds: “It’s always great for Cape Town as we do not normally get so many players from our area represented in the national team.
“It’s truly a great privilege to be part of this group and hopefully add more value to what Cosafa are doing in our region.
“We have to improve in all aspects of the game, to compete with the rest of Africa, and possibly the world as the game evolves daily.”
Are we going to see the next Shaun Bartlett of this tournament?
dailyvoice@inl.co.za