The only two players who have never played for Bafana Bafana in the World Cup squad, Olwethu Makhanya and Bradley Cross, never gave up on receiving a call from the coach of the national team, Hugo Broos.
Broos announced the 26 players he is taking with him to Mexico, Canada and the United States (USA) at an event in Pretoria midweek.
Among these players there is Makhanya who plays for Philadelphia Union in the Major Soccer League (MLS) and Cross who is the only Kaizer Chiefs representative in this squad which is included in Group A with Mexico, South Korea and the Czech Republic.
Both of these players spoke to the media yesterday at a conference that included comments on the announcement of the World Cup squad and the friendly match against Nicaragua.
Bafana, who appears to have secured a friendly match against Jamaica (although Safa has not yet released all the details), will start against Nicaragua today at 6 pm at the Orlando Amstel Arena, Soweto.
“I am honored to be part of Bafana since years ago I came to a country where I didn’t know anyone when I was young,” said Makhanya.
“I’m used to it now and I think that’s why Broos saw me. This means a lot to me. It used to be like I was going to be called and it never happened. The good thing is that I never gave up hope,” said Makhanya.
And Cross went over these words remembering many times when he was included in the squads that were about to be cut.
“From a young age, I decided that one day I would represent Nigeria in the world football,” said Cross, who was one of the highlights of the Chiefs in the recently concluded season.
“I was calm because I knew that Broos had his eye on me. I could see this by the fact that if I wasn’t injured, he used to call me to his squads even though they were the ones that were about to be cut,” said Cross.