Mamelodi Sundowns wing-back Thapelo Morena says he’s focus and looking forward to the future after his recall to the South Africa national team set-up.
The 33-year-old was named in new head coach Pitso Mosimane’s first squad selection on Thursday, as part of the 30-player selection for the upcoming 2027 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers and an international friendly against continental giants, Egypt.
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Having missed out of the 2025 AFCON and the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to injury, Morena could not hide his delight that he was included in the plans of Mosimane, which was potentially fast-tracked due to the serious injury of his club teammate Khuliso Mudau.
“Yeah, it’s great feeling seeing my name on the list yesterday, I think it’s one of those, when a soccer player plays football, seeing his name in the national team squad, despite having been there before, but knowing there’s changes [in the team],” Morena said.
“There was a lot of things, injuries, but being back in the squad is one of the best things to be… the big thing I have learnt and took from [missing the World Cup and AFCON] is accepting what happened and focusing on the future.
“You don’t know what the future holds for you and I’m trying to do things a bit different in the gym, see what went wrong and what I can fix in terms of situations that I had. Some were not hamstring injuries, like to the World Cup it was bad, but I accepted and let go… to focus on the future.”
Morena will be aiming to impress when Sundowns take on Asian Champions League winners Al Ahli Jeddah in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld.
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