Igesund making the right moves

The four-time League title-winning coach was officially appointed as Pitso Mosimane's successor on July 1, and has wasted no time in getting players, coaches and club owners to subscribe to his way of thinking.

Igesund has been touring the country to meet with the various stakeholders in the local game and is hoping it bears fruit as Bafana Bafana start their build-up to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

"Things are going very, very nicely," Igesund tells KickOff.com.

"My main priority over the last few weeks has been to make sure I visit every team; to build up a relationship with the coach, to build up a relationship with the chairmen, to focus on how we need them and what we can do for them and what they can do for us in regards to releasing players on time, about calling up players and giving them reports after the camps and so forth.

"So far everyone's been very positive and obviously I'm very happy about that.

"I will be making a statement in the next week or two about what I'm trying to achieve with these visits, and then I want to try and get overseas and see a couple of players there that I need to have a chat to, so that's where I am at the moment."

Igesund's appointment seems to have everyone excited; so much so that Orlando Pirates striker and Bafana's leading all-time scorer Benni McCarthy has gone public about his desire to represent the national team again.

However, Igesund says he is not prepared to discuss individual players and that everyone has an equal chance of playing for the country.

"As far as Benni McCarthy is concerned, he is no different to any other player in our domestic league," the coach continues.

"Benni has gone public saying that he would like to play for Bafana Bafana, that he has renewed energy and that he wants to compete, and that's very nice to hear that players are looking at that as a challenge to try and get a call-up to the national team.

"Every single player in our League is eligible to play if they are doing their job well and playing at the top of their game, then everybody will have a chance to play. But I don't talk about Benni only … there are many, many players in our league.

"Everybody will know that to play in the national team you need to play with passion, with pride, and I'm sure they will all do that, but they have to be at the top of their game."

Igesund's first game in charge will be a high-profile international friendly against five-time world champions Brazil on September 7.