Pirates’ Pule back in form and looking forward to Bafana role

Vincent Pule has had a fantastic start to the season with Orlando Pirates and is now hoping to carry that form into the Bafana Bafana camp as South Africa prepare to face Sao Tome e Principe in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Bafana will play the island nation in Durban on Friday, and will then play them in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, in a Group C ‘away’ game that Sao Tome have agreed to play in South Africa, to avoid extra travelling in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I am excited to be back,” said Pule this week.

“It is great to be here with the other guys (in the squad).”

Pule had a difficult 2019/20 campaign in the Premier Soccer League, scoring only three goals in all domestic competitions, compared to nine the previous season. He has, however, looked extremely sharp for the Buccaneers in the new campaign, linking well with the likes of Thembinkosi Lorch and Zakhele Lepasa, and already has one goal, netting in the 3-0 Soweto derby humiliation of Kaizer Chiefs, in the MTN8 semifinal first leg.

“I struggled a bit with injuries (last season), some games I played with injuries. But I kept going, I told my self I am not going to be stopped because of minor injuries … I am here to add improvement to the Bafana team and hopefully I get a chance to play.”

On his goal in the Soweto derby, a superb turn and shot to put Pirates 2-0 up, Pule added: “Scoring goals for my respective clubs has always been my thing and scoring in a derby is a great feeling.”

Bafana head coach Molefi Ntseki was finally expected to have a full squad to train with, meanwhile, on Wednesday, with midfielders Bongani Zungu, from Glasgow Rangers in Scotland and Kamohelo Mokotjo, from Cincinnati FC in the USA, the last men to arrive in camp.

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