Now Reeve Frosler can go to the Under-20 World Cup‚ said Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt in what seemed the natural response following his side’s league title victory on Wednesday night.
Wits wrapped up the Absa Premiership with a game to spare with their 2-0 win against Polokwane City at Bidvest Stadium‚ freeing up impressive 19-year-old right-back Frosler to finally join his Amajita team-mates in South Korea.
Wits have one academic match against Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on May 27 remaining to conclude their season.
Hunt did not specify when Frosler might travel to Asia‚ though with South Africa’s U-20s meeting Japan in Suwon on Sunday in their opening game of the Fifa U-20 World Cup‚ Safa would surely want that to be as soon as possible.
“I don’t know who’s going to play right-back – we’ll find a goalkeeper to play right-back. But we’ll send him‚” Hunt said after the win against Polokwane on Wednesday night.
“Sure‚ we must send him. Why not? And we’ll find someone to play right-back.”
It has been a tough one to call‚ this club-v-country tussle between Wits – chasing their first league title in a 96-year history – and the SA Football Association over the Clever Boys’ forward prodigy Phakamani Mahlambi and Frosler.
Wits have been called to a disciplinary hearing for not honouring the call-ups in time.
Mahlambi’s case has been resolved by a hamstring injury‚ a bitter disappointment for the player who also missed last year’s Rio Olympics with the SA U-23s through injury.
Safa‚ too‚ have a valid point that national teams come first and that these U-20 players are the future for Bafana Bafana‚ and one cannot afford having them arrive jet-lagged soon before the opening game.
Wits’ track record for releasing players for national team duty has been poor‚ earning them a bad reputation for it‚ even if this time they had a strong argument.
Their league title victory‚ though‚ means Frosler‚ who has barely put a foot wrong filling in for injured right-back Nazeer Allie at the death end of Wits’ season‚ might start against Japan‚ where such a talented young defender's presence might prove indispensable. - TMG Digital/TMG Sport