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| Steven Pienaar @ Backpagepix |
Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has shed some light on the national team captaincy, currently held by Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Steven Pienaar.
The media and social networks were abuzz, touting Morgan Gould as Igesund’s chosen man following a breakfast meeting hosted by the New Age, which Igesund addressed. Speaking to SuperSport.com on Thursday at the launch of the new Castle Lager sponsorship deal, Igesund cleared the confusion.
“People jumped the gun. I said we have too many captains and leaders in our team. Morgan Gould was sitting in the audience. I made an example and I said we have got a leader sitting right here in Morgan Gould.
“He is a leader who motivates his team and will pop out to score a crucial goal. I didn’t mention any other names because they were not in the audience,” he said.
Igesund reiterated his confidence in Pienaar as the captain and showered him with praise for his achievements but added that he will have a chat with the Spurs player to map the way forward.
“We not going to say Pienaar (Steven) is not the captain. I am going to sit down with Steven to find out how he feels about being the captain. Maybe he doesn’t want to be the captain. Maybe there are other issues or maybe he has lost his confidence, just like most of the players in the team in the last few months.
“We are not saying Steven is a bad leader. Steven is a good player and has played at the highest level of football, so what we need is time to sit down with the players and talk. At the end of the day I am sure we will come out with the right decisions,” Igesund said.
Pienaar hardly saw any first-team action at Spurs this past season but was hugely impressive upon his return to Everton, scoring four times during his 14-match spell at Goodison Park.
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