Bafana Bafana
Igesund: Pienaar still captain
2012-07-13 10:27
Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has moved to quash reports
suggesting he is ready to strip Steven Pienaar of the captaincy in
favour of Morgan Gould.
The newly appointed national team boss was in attendance at a
press conference on Thursday where he hinted Kaizer Chiefs defender
Gould could be handed the skipper's armband ahead of the 2014 World Cup
qualifiers.
However, Igesund says he was only making a point by mentioning
Gould, who was one of the few Bafana players in attendance at the media
event.
"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," the former Moroka Swallows coach said.
"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."
However, the 55-year-old admits he will sit down with Tottenham
midfielder Pienaar to discuss the player's desire to retain the
captaincy.
"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," he added.
"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."