With a place at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at stake, Bafana Bafana CHAN coach Molefi Ntseki has made a strong case for Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Neo Maema to fly to the USA.
After falling out of favour with former coach Manqoba Mngqithi, Maema surprisingly made the line-up in Miguel Cardoso's first matches but later faded out.
Following tough competition at Sundowns, with new signings brought in January, the former Bloemfontein Celtic midfielder appeared to be at risk of missing out on travelling with Masandawana to the Club World Cup in June, as he struggled to make the squad.
However, the 29-year-old got a rare chance to redeem himself after he was called into the Bafana squad for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.
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Maema did not only impress on the field in the 4-2 aggregate win over Egypt but has been handed the responsibility and honour of being the captain, which could get him back in the radar of Cardoso at Sundowns.
"Leadership has got different phases and when you look at Neo being part of the team, he's a natural leader, because he would be leading in singing," Ntseki said on Radio 2000's Game On.
"You could also see him whenever the players have to go for breakfast or lunch, he would be the one trying to get everybody ready for technical meetings and meals.
"So it made life easy for us to have him as the captain of the team. He did very well, he led by example, on and off the pitch," the former Kaizer Chiefs coach added.
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Maema, alongside Masandawana teammates, goalkeeper Jody February, Terrence Mashego and Kutlwano Letlhaku will have more opportunities to impress the Brazilians technical team, as Bafana will battle Malawi in the final round of qualifying in May.
