Bafana coach says he has no bad blood with Bongani Zungu

Ntseki was asked this after Zungu had made comments that suggested he had been overlooked when the latest Bafana squad was picked.

READ MORE: Five things we learned from Bafana Bafana’s friendly internationals.

“I don’t have an issue with Bongani Zungu,” Ntseki said after the big sigh on SAfm on Monday afternoon.

“I’ve never had an issue with any of the players who are not selected. It’s only based on what we want to achieve. Most of the senior players were not selected because we wanted to give new faces a chance,” he added.

Ntseki then suggested that leaving the Rangers FC player out was for his own good as he needed to settle in Scotland having made the move there only recently on loan from France’s Amiens.

“But if people were following what was happening with Zungu, he had issues with his club (about) moving to Rangers or staying at Amiens. It’s only in the last week he played for Amiens before moving to Rangers”

“I cannot say there are issues with him in the Bafana Bafana camp. We have been selecting him all the time and some players were also omitted from the team. I hope South Africans understand that sometimes we are giving other players a chance,” explained Ntseki.

It was not the first time that Zungu complained being left out as he has not been selected since Ntseki took over from Stuart Baxter.

“But also some players are not in the team for various reasons, like injury, loss of form, moving to another club. We have seen (Dean); Furman move from SuperSport United to England, Zungu and  (Kamohelo) Mokotjo also moved to other clubs recently.”

There have, however, been issues with Zungu in the national team that made his commitment questionable. Phakaaathi reported in 2018 about a fight that broke out between him and Keagan Dolly after he hosted a party in his hotel room shortly after a game where Bafana struggled and couldn’t get an important win against Libya in an Afcon qualifier in Durban.

But Ntseki indicated that his absence from his squads had nothing to do with commitment issues.

“I think everyone who’s called up to the national team gives his all, but when we called up Zungu against Ghana he was injured in the 25th minute. The following day he was sent for a scan. When he was supposed to play the next game against Sudan, he said he doesn’t feel good.

“Against Mali in PE he reported for camp on a Sunday, then he came back with a wound on his shin which he picked up from his club. He was treated by our doctor, but he felt he needed to go back to his club because he wants to be closer to his team.”

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