EUROPEAN DEVELOPED PLAYERS WHO PLAYED FOR BAFANA

FIFA rules dictate that nations can call up players who were born in their country or who may have ancestry to that country. Generally, players who are called up via this clause don’t prove to be successful. For one, they usually don’t know the football dynamics of the country and secondly, they will naturally not have the same level of patriotism to that country as a player bred by its football system.

This week, I’ll look at some of the players Bafana Bafana called up over the years who were moulded by other countries, ranking them from best to worst.

Born in Cape Town, the defensive midfielder spent the majority of his life in England, being moulded by the Chelsea youth development system. A Bafana international since 2012, Furman has probably been the best foreign developed player to don the Bafana jersey. In nearly 10 years, he earned almost 60 caps for the national team, being its key anchor in midfield and captaining it on several occasions. With new Bafana coach Hugo Broos modelling his side around youth, it is unlikely that Furman will wear the Bafana jersey again.

Hans Vonk

Alberton-born Vonk is the only one on this list who can compete with Furman in terms of what he contributed to

The former centre-back has to go down as one of the most disliked players in the national team’s history. He is best remembered by Bafana die-hards for “scoring two own goals against France” in a 1998 World Cup group stage game which the South Africans lost 3-0. Naturally, some fans reacted with extra suspicion given that Issa spent a big portion of his life playing his club football in France.

In defence of Issa, one of the goals was awarded to Thierry Henry so he only scored one own goal against France. Apart from that, Issa earned 47 caps for Bafana and was dependable for the most part.

Somma is a good striker that never was for Bafana. He showed plenty of promise during his spell with Leeds United in England which had Lucas Radebe raving about his potential. Unfortunately, he spent more time injured than on the pitch and managed just one goal from three games for Bafana.

A technically decent left-back, setpiece specialist and former Portugal U-17 international, Nunez just could not adapt to the style of South African football. He looked out of place when in the Bafana jersey and it was hardly surprising that former coach Gordon Igesund lost faith in him shortly after initially calling him up. He made just five appearances for Bafana. He was probably the worst foreign developed player tried out by South Africa.

Lars Veldwijk and Matty Pattison.