Keegan Ritchie's move paid big dividends
Ritchie's move paid big dividends
Posted: 2010-08-31 14:14
One of the promises made by Pitso Mosimane's when he took over the coaching reigns from Carlos Alberto Parreira at Bafana Bafana was to give youngsters more chances to be part of the national team set up.
Within a few months since taking over as national team coach, Mosimane has lived up to his promise by calling up a few Under-23 players including Kermit Erasmus, Daylon Classen and Andile Jali.
However whilst the likes of Erasmus are familiar faces in the senior national team set up, Mosimane’s surprise inclusion in his squad for the Afcon qualifier against Niger was lesser known Keegan Ritchie from Moroka Swallows.
"I was shocked when the news of a Bafana Bafana call up reached my ears and sank in. I told myself this was the time to work even harder than I was doing at club level," young Ritchie says.
"I must say though I didn't expect a call up so soon in my soccer career as I was only looking forward to establishing myself with Swallows this season. This has motivated me a lot and pushed me to continue working hard as my goal is to play for Bafana at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil."
Ritchie remains of the unlucky players that failed to gain promotion to the SuperSport United senior team after spending a few years in the club's development team, but now looking back it seems his failure to catch Gavin Hunt's eye has been a blessing in disguise.
"The reason for leaving SuperSport United Academy was because I saw limited chances of making into the senior team. Moving away and joining Swallow has opened the opportunity for me to play for Bafana, but I remain grateful to one of the development coaches from Holland at the academy who converted me from being a wide midfielder to left back and worked hard to improve my defensive abilities."
The 20-year-old defender says his immediate aim now is to keep his place in the Bafana squad by doing well for Moroka Swallows and thereby repaying his parents for their efforts in seeing him turning into a professional player.
"I owe lot to my parents. My father and mother have always been there for me since I started playing football at a young age.
"My father, who was also a soccer player, always encourages me do extra training on my own and that has paid lot of dividends. Now I am looking forward to taking everything that I learn with Bafana back to my team and helping them achieve success this season."
: 2010-08-31 15:43
Comment on this article:
TERMS OF USE: The comments posted below do not reflect the views of KickOff.com. Users are reminded that no misuse of this comment facility will be tolerated. Any abusive, racist or inflammatory comments will be deleted and the user banned. Please report abusive posts to editor@kickoff.com