Xulu appointed captain of Bafana for Cosafa Cup

Responding to his appointment, Xulu said it caught him by surprise.

“It was a very huge surprise when the coach named me the captain. Coming back here is me saying to myself let me just learn new things from the other guys, let me reset my international career. It was me trying to refocus on my game, and the captaincy is not something I really expected,” Xulu told the Safa website.

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South Africa will only get the taste of the Cosafa Cup action on Sunday after they received a bye in the first round of the competition as one of the seeded teams.

Bafana will start the tournament in the quarterfinal stage when they face the winners of Group A, which has Madagascar, Mozambique, Comoros and Mozambique.

Stuart Baxter’s men held their first training session last Sunday in preparation for the upcoming clash.

“We have to work hard and prepare well for the tournament. I can never assure you of what we can do as a team because we have only had one training session, but I believe in the boys.

“From the first session, you could see the attitude and the willingness to work for one another. It is a good bunch of players, young and energetic, and that’s what you need. Most of us haven’t worked with coach Baxter, and that is why we are looking forward to the camp, and from the little we have seen at training, it seems like it is going to be a very exciting camp,” commented Xulu.