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Pitso warns overseas players

Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has warned his overseas players only regular first-team action will be rewarded with call-ups.

The fates of players such as Bongani Khumalo and Kagisho Dikgacoi, who left the PSL for Tottenham and Fulham respectively only to soon find themselves loaned out to lower league clubs and off the European radar, are cautionary tales Mosimane hopes others will learn from.

He told TimesLive: "My message is clear. If you leave the PSL, you had better make sure you play at your next club.

"If you don't, your place is under threat in Bafana. The days of players gaining automatic selection ahead of a PSL player only because they play abroad are over."

However, the 46-year-old insists he is not looking to prevent South African players from playing abroad, adding: "When you move overseas, even if you go to the UK first division, it is a good step as long as you play.

"The intensity, tempo, stress, physical demands, expectations, the mental challenges of the game are higher than at home.

"The challenge for our players is they have to adapt to the conditions in which they find themselves.

"The damage only happens when players are not playing and have to come back home."

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