Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Sibusiso Vilakazi says he would like to form part of the South Africa squad en route to Egypt for the 2019 Afcon tournament.
‘Vila’ sustained an injury during the qualifiers and returned in time to help the Brazilians lift their Premier Soccer League (PSL) trophy with fine performances.
“Of course I would like to be there, but it’s down to the selection and me meeting the criteria. I would like to be there, but we will see what happens,” Vilakazi said as quoted by Independent Media.'
“I don’t know if I have done enough to earn a place since my return from injury. The only thing that I was hoping for (when I was out injured) is that I get through the rehab, I return stronger and ready to contribute to the team so that I give the guys a boost towards the end of the season. I think that I have managed to do that,” he said.
Moreover, the former Bidvest Wits skipper returned from a long-term injury and helped Sundowns retain their PSL crown during the 2018/19 season.
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“Twice is very nice, hopefully, next year we come back to make it back-to-back-to-back,” Vilakazi continued.
“This one is very nice because we were able to defend it. As a team and as a collective, we have done very well. What makes this special is that we defended our title," he said.
Looking at his statistics, the Soweto-born attacker featured in 15 games for Sundowns and netted three times and provided two assists in all competitions.
“To come back and defend the trophy while everyone was trying to take it from us was hard, but we managed to fight through under the circumstances we faced,” he concluded.
Vilakazi's South Africa have been drawn into Group D at the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on June 21 in Egypt.
Bafana will begin their Afcon campaign against Ivory Coast in Cairo, before meeting Namibia and Morocco as they look to reach the knockout stages.
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