Veldwijk call-up surprising given Baxter’s apathy

Of all the names in Stuart Baxter’s Bafana Bafana squad to face Libya, perhaps the biggest surprise on the list was striker Lars Veldwijk.

The Sparta Rotterdam man had, after all, never been called up before, not even when he was in supreme form for his Dutch second division side ahead of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Seychelles (home and away) and Nigeria last year.

Between September 16 and November 9, the 27-year-old scored 12 times in nine league appearances for Sparta, but still that was not enough to sway Baxter.

Since then, Veldwijk has netted a mere four times in eight league appearance for Sparta, and just once this year, but it is for this game against Libya that Baxter has now given him the nod.

It remains to be seen exactly how much game time Veldwijk gets on Sunday, with the likes of Percy Tau and Lebo Mothiba surely ahead of him in the pecking order. But if he can score a vital goal for Bafana, or contribute in any other way to a result that will see them through to Egypt 2019, then Baxter’s selection of the Netherlands-born front man could look inspired.

Veldwijk, who qualifies to play for Bafana through his South African father, was first called up by Shakes Mashaba in November 2016, for the ultimately annulled Fifa World Cup qualifier against Senegal, though he played no part anyway, making his debut in a friendly against Mozambique a few days later.

Until now, however, he has been in the international wilderness ever since.

“I am a striker and all I want to do is score goals. I think that my height will play a vital role for Bafana Bafana if I am tasked to play the number nine position against Libya or come off the bench to make an impact.”

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