Mark Fish – Mokoena Not Gone For Good

Former Bafana Bafana defender Mark Fish thinks Aaron Mokoena could still return to the national team one day, but adds that ‘Mbazo’ will have his work cut out to dislodge Morgan Gould.

South Africa’s most-capped player was left out of the squad that beat reigning African champions Egypt 1-0 last week, before announcing that he is still available for selection at a press conference on the eve of the match.

But Fish, who played alongside Mokoena several times for the national team before his international retirement in2004, thinks Gould’s place in central defence alongside former SuperSport United teammate Bongani Khumalo is here to stay.

“I was one of the people saying before the World Cup that Aaron’s time was up and that Bongani and Morgan Gould is our best partnership,” he tells KickOff.com.

“Unfortunately, Morgan got injured at a bad time but now he is back. They are the ideal pair to play for Bafana because they have played together so much. I think it will grow from strength to strength and long may it continue.”

Fish adds: “I don’t think it’s necessarily the end for Aaron, but the players have moved on and Pitso has had some good success already. I think he is slowly getting to know his options and realising the partnerships he wants to gel together in the future.”

The win over Egypt put Bafana in pole position to make it through to the African Nations Cup finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year. Fish believes South Africa are making real progress under Mosimane and hopes he can return the national side to the pinnacle of the continent.

“The results have been superb since he took over and beating the African champions last week was a brilliant result for the country,” he says.

“Hopefully we can step on from that now because we have the best stadiums and facilities in Africa so our national team should be one of the best as well.”