Photo Credit: soccerladuma.com
31 August 2016 – Supersport United defender Denwin Farmer can’t wait to get his first Bafana Bafana cap.
The 19-year old has been called up to in the South African Senior Men’s National Team squad that will face Mauritania and Egypt in the 2017 Gabon Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and the 2016 Nelson Mandela Challenge respectively.
31 August 2016 – Supersport United defender Denwin Farmer can’t wait to get his first Bafana Bafana cap.
The 19-year old has been called up to in the South African Senior Men’s National Team squad that will face Mauritania and Egypt in the 2017 Gabon Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and the 2016 Nelson Mandela Challenge respectively.
“It has always been a dream of mine to represent my country at junior level and at Bafana Bafana level, now I am living that dream. I cant wait for that first cap and the dream will come alive,” said Farmer.
He was first spotted for Amajita, the South African u20 Men’s National Team by the then u20 head coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba at a SAFA u19 Interprovincial tournament in Bloemfontein in 2014 while still on the books of the Supersport Academy.
He got a call-up to the Amajita squad for the African Youth Championships qualifiers. He made his presence felt and moved to the u23 squad that was playing the qualifiers of the CAF u23 Africa Cup of Nations – but he got injured and missed out on the trip to Senegal where the squad qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
He was however not considered for the tournament.
“I was disapointed at not making the Rio team but then I looked at the bigger picture and worked on improving on the different aspects of my game - and Bafana Bafana was the bigger picture so I am just happy I got the call up,” added Farmer.
“It’s not good that we have not qualified for the AFCON but given a chance I will still play to the best of my abilities because it has always been a dream of mine to represent my country. It is all about booking my place for the future, I want to be part of the team that plays in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, so I need to work harder to stay in the team even though I know that there are no permanent places in the national team, your place is never guaranteed – there are no contracts here.”
As a youngster, Farmer has been inspired by several players in the national team and now he is happy to be sharing the same space with them.
“It is actually all of them, the likes of Andile Jali, Clayton Daniels and Dean Furman, who I play with at club level, I always used to look up to them, watching them from when I was small and now I am playing with them, that’s a dream come true. My goal is to play both games, but if not, at least one game so I can push myself to the best of my abilities. And if I am on the bench I will just give the team the support it needs,” said Farmer.
Bafana Bafana face Mauritania on Friday, 2 Septemer 2016 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, and Egypt on Tuesday, 6 September at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
He was first spotted for Amajita, the South African u20 Men’s National Team by the then u20 head coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba at a SAFA u19 Interprovincial tournament in Bloemfontein in 2014 while still on the books of the Supersport Academy.
He got a call-up to the Amajita squad for the African Youth Championships qualifiers. He made his presence felt and moved to the u23 squad that was playing the qualifiers of the CAF u23 Africa Cup of Nations – but he got injured and missed out on the trip to Senegal where the squad qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
He was however not considered for the tournament.
“I was disapointed at not making the Rio team but then I looked at the bigger picture and worked on improving on the different aspects of my game - and Bafana Bafana was the bigger picture so I am just happy I got the call up,” added Farmer.
“It’s not good that we have not qualified for the AFCON but given a chance I will still play to the best of my abilities because it has always been a dream of mine to represent my country. It is all about booking my place for the future, I want to be part of the team that plays in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, so I need to work harder to stay in the team even though I know that there are no permanent places in the national team, your place is never guaranteed – there are no contracts here.”
As a youngster, Farmer has been inspired by several players in the national team and now he is happy to be sharing the same space with them.
“It is actually all of them, the likes of Andile Jali, Clayton Daniels and Dean Furman, who I play with at club level, I always used to look up to them, watching them from when I was small and now I am playing with them, that’s a dream come true. My goal is to play both games, but if not, at least one game so I can push myself to the best of my abilities. And if I am on the bench I will just give the team the support it needs,” said Farmer.
Bafana Bafana face Mauritania on Friday, 2 Septemer 2016 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, and Egypt on Tuesday, 6 September at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
By: Editor
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