Gwede Mantashe: 1 – Thulani Serero: 0

In a continued criticism of Thulani Serero after snubbing Bafana Bafana’s call-up to its upcoming qualifying match against Senegal on Friday, the midfielder has been pitted against ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Twitter.

Those in support of Mantashe were asked to retweet, while those for Serero had to like the tweet, and in the end, the secretary-general won with 581 retweets to Serero’s 148 likes.

The ‘Barry Roux’ Twitter account used an image of the ANC secretary-general playing soccer in his own ‘soccer kit’, trying to kick a ball with his tongue out.

While some retweeted and liked, others chose to comment, with one saying the comparison was disrespectful, as Mantashe was the “finest footballer”.

“Wow, this comparison is disrespect to one of the finest footballers to ever come out of this country. If it wasn’t for injury he would have moved to FC Barcelona. So don’t disrespect Gwede Mantashe like this,” they said.

Serero has been highly criticised after saying he would not be joining the national team’s camp.

“He gave the indication to Barney [Kujane] that if he is not going to play he does not want to come to camp,” coach Stuart Baxter told the media on Tuesday.

“This is a national team and not a club, this is not a place where we can guarantee people places. If he does not feel that it’s an honour enough to be called to the national team camp, then he may as well stay where he is. Whether that’s permanent or not, I don’t know.

“We have asked him to put that in writing so that we know for sure, but at the moment we have not heard anything. But he has certainly told us that he is not going to join the camp,” added Baxter.

Bafana are set to play Senegal in back-to-back 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers on Friday and Tuesday next week. If they manage to beat the Teranga Lions twice, they’ll qualify for the global showpiece.

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