Month: November 2012

The South African National football team manager Gordon Igesund has said that he will not be trying to persuade the Norwich city defender Andrew Surman anymore after the 26-year-old apparently rejected the opportunity to play for the Bafana Bafana.

Recently Gordon Igesund met with the Norwich city defender Andrew Surman in order to speak about the possibility of playing for the South African national team. Even at the 26 years of age, Surman is yet to make his debut for an international team. He is eligible to play for both South Africa and England, but is thought to be keen on representing England.

Hence, Igesund has said that he thought that the meeting with the player was pointless after just 5 min because he was not showing enough passion. Surman was born in the South African capital Johannesburg 26 years ago, but he has very little ties with the African nations according to the manager. Hence, it would have been a massive favour from the player if he decided to play for South Africa, and Igesund is in no need of favours right now. Igesund has failed to criticise the player for not showing enough interest in playing for the South African national team.

“I am not disappointed at all. I think it was my duty to go and see Surman and after five or six minutes I realised that I was wasting my time. I do not think that he showed enough passion for me to even consider him. He has got no ties to South Africa and I think if I had tried to convince him, he would have thought he was doing us a favour. And I do not need favours from any players,” said Igesund regarding the future of Andrew Surman. South Africa will play against Zambia in a friendly match.

The South African national team manager Gordon Igesund has said that he is extremely confident that his team will be able to dominate the African cup of nations that will be held in January this year.

South Africa have the experience of playing in high profile friendlies matches against the likes of Brazil, while they were also recently involved in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Gordon Igesund has said that such experience has helped the players become much better and it will come to the forte when South Africa play in the African cup of nations this year should they qualify for this tournament.

One of the biggest advantages South Africa will have in this tournament will be the home support. It almost helped the nation qualify for the next round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup before they were eliminated in the group stages. Gordon Igesund is confident that the home support will once again play an important role, but this time they will help the team win the title itself. Due to the incredible home support, South Africa go into the African cup of nations 2013 as one of the favourites to win the title.

“I think at the moment there is a great vibe in the country regarding our national team. I know when this national team goes into the field and there are 60 000 people blowing their vuvuzelas, truly supporting the players and getting behind the team, we will be very difficult to beat. If the boys continue with their positive attitude, we really can go places including conquering Africa of course,” Igesund told the official website of the South African football Federation. He has recently confirmed that he is ready to look at players playing outside South Africa when it comes to picking his squad.