With four Orlando Pirates players up for CAF honours in the coming weeks, Tebogo Moloi - the Buccaneers' assistant coach - believes Sunday night's announcement was a massive endorsement of SA football.
Captain Oupa Manyisa, Thamsanqa Gabuza, Kermit Erasmus and Felipe Ovono were included in a list of 24 nominees for the best African-based player of the year award.
CAF, the continental football governing body, is yet to announce a date for their gala, when winners will be revealed. Moloi lauded the club's quartet and argued their inclusion was also a triumph for the country.
"You would think SA has no talent judging by the way we are undermined in other parts of the continent. There was total disbelief when we scored four goals to beat Al Ahly in Egypt last week.
"We stamped our authority," he said, recalling Pirates' come-from-behind 4-3 win over the eight-time African champions in Suez to progress to the final of the CAF Confederation Cup final next month.
The Buccaneers will host Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel in the first leg on November 21, with the second tie scheduled eight days later. Moloi said the nominations were a welcome boost for Pirates ahead of their second continental cup final in two years [the club lost to Al Ahly in the Champions League final in 2013].
"... for me, it is not about these players winning, but the recognition I feel this country deserves," Moloi said.
"It is about time we take these competitions seriously. We have now left people wondering where Gabuza has been all along, and asking questions about Kermit. That is what happens when we prove that we have what it takes to compete. I think on talent alone, we are among the best in the world."
Also making the list of nominees is Etoile's top goalscorer [with seven goals in the Confederation Cup] Baghdad Bounedjah and his teammate Ahmed Akaichi.
Bucs quarter's Caf nomination a boost for SA football
With four Orlando Pirates players up for CAF honours in the coming weeks, Tebogo Moloi - the Buccaneers' assistant coach - believes Sunday night's announcement was a massive endorsement of SA football.
Captain Oupa Manyisa, Thamsanqa Gabuza, Kermit Erasmus and Felipe Ovono were included in a list of 24 nominees for the best African-based player of the year award.
CAF, the continental football governing body, is yet to announce a date for their gala, when winners will be revealed. Moloi lauded the club's quartet and argued their inclusion was also a triumph for the country.
"You would think SA has no talent judging by the way we are undermined in other parts of the continent. There was total disbelief when we scored four goals to beat Al Ahly in Egypt last week.
"We stamped our authority," he said, recalling Pirates' come-from-behind 4-3 win over the eight-time African champions in Suez to progress to the final of the CAF Confederation Cup final next month.
The Buccaneers will host Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel in the first leg on November 21, with the second tie scheduled eight days later. Moloi said the nominations were a welcome boost for Pirates ahead of their second continental cup final in two years [the club lost to Al Ahly in the Champions League final in 2013].
"... for me, it is not about these players winning, but the recognition I feel this country deserves," Moloi said.
"It is about time we take these competitions seriously. We have now left people wondering where Gabuza has been all along, and asking questions about Kermit. That is what happens when we prove that we have what it takes to compete. I think on talent alone, we are among the best in the world."
Also making the list of nominees is Etoile's top goalscorer [with seven goals in the Confederation Cup] Baghdad Bounedjah and his teammate Ahmed Akaichi.
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