When Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana took over the South African national team coaching post, he promised to choose players on merit. But the Brazilian coach does not seem to be living up to this promise, writes sport.iafrica.com's Khaya Ndubane.

One just has to take a look at the 30-man squad that Santana has selected for the Confederations Cup — a dress rehearsal of next year's FIFA World Cup.

Santana has opted to select players like Innocent Mdledle, Katlego Mphela, Matthew Booth and Rowen Fernandez — all bench-warmers at their respective clubs.

The Brazilian mentor decided not to call in-form players like Dikgang Mabalane, Daine Klate and Richard Henyekane, who is the Absa Premiership top goal-scorer.

The omission of Henyekane in particular has raised many eyebrows as the Golden Arrows star became the first South African striker (as opposed to foreign talent) to top the standings in five years.

In trying to defend Santana, Bafana team manager Sipho Nkumane said the reason for Henyekane's exclusion was because he was still too young to carry the responsibility of scoring goals for Bafana.

Let's roll back some 10 years when a young and inexperienced Benni McCarthy was selected by Jomo Snono to represent the country in the African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso. McCarthy went on to score seven goals and became the tournament's joint top goal-scorer.

McCarthy, who was recently axed by Santana, has since became South Africa's all-time leading goal-scorer.

My argument is that nobody, including Santana and his technical team, knows what Henyekane can deliver at international level. Indeed, no one will know until he is selected for Bafana.

Wingers Klate and Mabalane performed well for their Premiership teams, playing huge roles in taking SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates to first and second position in the league respectively.

Without taking anything away from Bafana winger Siphiwe Tshabalala, as he is a good player, the honest truth is that Klate is the better crosser of the ball. And this brings us back to the question of whether Santana is choosing players on merit.

From the argument presented above, it is as clear as day light that Santana is not choosing players on merit. How he picks players is a mystery only he can understand.

Let's just hope that the 'Santana men' do deliver in the Confederations Cup and the Brazilian proves us all wrong.

  • Do you agree with Khaya? Do you think Santana has chosen the best available squad for the Confederations Cup? Let us know what YOU think!
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