Former Bafana Bafana captain Thulani 'Tyson' Hlatshwayo admits he hasn't done enough to earn a callup to the national team.
Hlatshwayo last represented Bafana in March in the disappointing defeat to Sudan, which saw them fail to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations to take place in Cameroon.
The 31-year-old was much-maligned last season after making a string of uncharacteristic errors in his maiden season at Orlando Pirates, leading him to being dropped from the national team.
And the former Bidvest Wits centre-back has taken his omission on the chin and sent his best wishes to the current squad ahead of their back-to-back qualifiers against Ethiopia on October 9 and October 12.
“I think it would be unfair for me to say I’m sad or mad because the national team is not about Tyson, it’s not about Thulani,” said Hlatshwayo at an event held by his sponsors Adidas at the Cape Town Stadium this week.
“It’s our national team and each and every player who’s good enough deserves to be in the national team, be it the captain or no captain, but he deserves to be in the national team.
“You’re selected based on the performance that you’ve displayed. When you looked at the previous team, which is the one that failed to qualify for Afcon 2021, I think it was probably time for the change.
“You know sometimes we don’t want to mention it as players, that it’s time for change, and before us there were people there. We also came and took over from your (Siyabonga) Sangweni and Morgan Gould who were there before us.
“So I think now it’s time to build the team with the players who are doing well. It’s players who have international experience, not only at youth level, but also in the senior national team.
“The team have done very well, and they have started the qualifiers well. So to answer the question of the captaincy and everything, I feel like the one who’s captaining the team deserves it. Ronwen deserves it. And as to whether Tyson is mad or what, I’m not.
“I will keep supporting the team, because it’s not about an individual, but our team as a country.
“Like I mentioned before, the only way you can be called into the national team is when you’re doing well for your team. So I have to do well for my club, Pirates.
“I think the team started well.
“We’re a results-driven country and for the team to go to Zimbabwe and get a point, it was good enough.
“We’ve learnt that with the qualifiers you have to win your home games. You have to win your home games, because you get to away games and they mess up the plan.
“We started well against Ghana, and it was a big win. I’m looking at Ghana because we played them (in the Cup of Nations qualifiers) … the very same Ghana, with the team that we had and we played a draw against (at home).
“With this team we’re rebuilding and they [won] against Ghana. [But] we shouldn’t be too confident though and have the mentality of saying, ‘it’s Ethiopia and we’ve just beat Ghana now.’
“The team needs to do well against Ethiopia and not underestimate anyone, because we have history against them during the Bernard Parker days (Parker scored an own goal in a 2-1 away defeat against Ethiopia in 2013 in what was a 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier).
“We have to respect them and not forget that we’re as good as our last game, and I think we did well against Ghana. I’m wishing the team the best of luck.”
