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Cape Town - SuperSport United defender Denwin Farmer has revealed his delight at receiving his first Bafana Bafana call-up for the encounters against Mauritania and Egypt.
The 19-year-old was included in Shakes Mashaba's squad for the upcoming AFCON qualifying fixture and the 2016 Nelson Mandela Challenge, despite having not featured in pre-season for Stuart Baxter's charges after spending some time with his ailing father.
"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," he told SAFA's website.
Farmer cited his disappointment at having not being included in Owen Da Gama's South Africa U23 squad, which competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"I was disappointed 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," he added.
"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."
The centre-back also took the time to highlight some of the players he looks up to, in addition to revealing that he would ideally like to play in both games against Mauritania and Egypt respectively.
"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," he concluded.
