‘The reasons for Sandilands’ exclusion in Bafana’s AFCON squad’ – Calvin Marlin

Following the recent announced Bafana bafana AFCON squad by Bafana Bafana’s head coach stuart Baxter, Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper give out his assessment on the reason Baxter excluded Sandilands.

baxter made his choice to go with Bidvest Wits keeper Darren Keet, SuperSport United vice-captain Ronwen Williams and Kaizer Chiefs starlet Bruce Bvuma as the three goalkeepers who will be representing Bafana Bafana in the AFCON in Egypt. However, Marlin says that he was rooting for Sandilands to be one of the goalkeepers but he respect the coach’s decision on the final goalkeepers.

 “Well if you look at the national team coaches they have their own ideas when it comes to player selection and he (Stuart Baxter) has his number one as (Darren) Keet. Number two will be Ronwen (Williams) there’s no doubt about that and perhaps he thought let me give the youngster (Bvuma) a chance to go to the tournament and ensure that he learns from these two experienced keepers and the tournament,” he said.

“Maybe he thought there was no chance to have another older keeper in the team such as Sandilands when you can have a youngster that will learn at the tournament. He’s looking at the future and it’s not that the youngster (Bvuma) will play or something, but he is there to provide cover and learn, but it will also depend on what happens at the tournament,” he reacted.

“I think Sandilands is a great keeper we cannot doubt his quality, but I think the coach had to decide and unless he wanted three experienced keepers then I think he would have included him. There’s is quality in the goalkeeping department and I am happy with Darren and Ronwen. They are experienced and Bvuma will definitely learn a lot from the two guys and he is also not a bad keeper,” continued Marlin.

“Well, when you look at any of the PSL clubs I don’t think there is any good South African goalkeeper than these selected for Bafana. You can look at all the PSL clubs and you will find these are the best performing keepers in the league obviously without excluding Wayne,” he praised.

“He has done a lot for Pirates and he finished the season on a high. From my point of view, these are the best in the league and I think he would have taken him for the experience but he may be also looking at the future as well,” said the 43-year-old.

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“We all know the problem with us when we talk about national goalkeepers, you will remember we have (Itumeleng) Khune who has been the number one for more than 10 years and it makes it difficult for other keepers to get some caps under their belts,” he reacted.

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“I also think with Khune’s days slowly coming to an end, we need to build for the future and there’s no doubt that the coach has also considered that with his three choices,” he concluded.

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Marlin highlighted all important aspects regarding South African goalkeepers and one can only hope that South Africa will be well represented in the AFCON tournament.

South Africa have been drawn into Group D at the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on June 21 in Egypt. Bafana will begin their AFCON campaign against Ivory Coast in Cairo, before meeting Namibia and Morocco as they look to reach the knockout stages.