Not all best players are playing overseas – Bafana coach Ntseki

Ntseki insists that most of the players who are playing in the Absa Premiership have the right kind of quality that he is looking for to make up his Bafana side.

In Bafana’s last game, Ntseki named five overseas-based players and it remains to be seen how his squad will look like when he names it next week Thursday as they gear up to take on Sao Tome and Principe in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at the FNB Stadium.

“We are saying give every South African a fair opportunity to every South African to play for Bafana Bafana. We profile them according to the qualities that we are looking for. It is not like all of the best players are playing overseas,” said Ntseki.

“You are giving them hope and believe that they can contribute to the success of the country. So every player with a South African identity document, we are saying you have an opportunity to play for your country. We are observing every team and every player week-in and week-out because you can always be able to play for the national team if you meet the requirements and if you have the qualities that we are looking for.

“We are not selecting players because they are good players, but we are selecting them because of the attitude. Attitude plays a big role in the development of a player and in the performance of a player,” he added.

On why FNB was the selected venue, the national team coach says it is the best suited area to a side with the characteristics of Sao Tome and Principe.

“When you select, you are selecting players based on your opponents, how you want to play, the intensity of the game and at the same time which stadium will suit how you want to deploy on the day and what type of players will help you achieve that objective.”

He added: “The team announcement will be next week Thursday, the 12^th. We are meeting on Monday to report back on our profiling and observation. In a way we will decide in our meeting on Monday. But we know the type of players we will select for those two games.”

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