Cape Town City defender Keanu Cupido says he has all but given up on being part of the senior national team as he feels he has knocked on the door long enough but remains unnoticed.
The 26-year-old has featured for the U17 national team and has two senior team caps – one which came at the 2024 COSAFA Cup. Post the 2023 AFCON heroics, Bafana had COSAFA which was dominated by fringe players, the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2025 AFCON qualifiers. Cupido didn’t even make the preliminary squads for both the qualifier camps.
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Cupido spoke to iDiski Times editor Rob Delport in edition 172 where he expressed how he doesn’t think he is still in the technical team plans and has lost all motivation to crack a nod.
“In all honesty, I think I’ve lost that motivation to get on that list,” Cupido told iDiski Times.
“Personally wise, I don’t have that feeling like ‘I want to go’ anymore, because I’ve been knocking. I’ve been knocking, but I don’t think they’ve called me up to the national team yet. I don’t know, for the past year and a half, almost.
The former Diambars Academy also looked back at his time at the COSAFA Cup where he was played as a midfielder. He added he doesn’t mind positional switches because that’s what is expected from players, to be diverse.
“I played in the midfield, but that wasn’t my position, actually,” added Cupido.
“It just happened before, that the coach said you’re coming in as a midfielder. I was a little bit shocked because I’ve been doing well at centre-back, and I felt like I’m more comfortable there. But I’ve done well when he said I must go in the midfield. I don’t mind playing other positions.
“It’s good for me, personally, to play lots of positions. I feel like the coach, he felt like, I’m more comfortable for him in the midfield, I’ll be happy to play, but I don’t know which position I’m playing if I do ever go to the national team. If it’s midfield, I’ll be happy to, if it’s centre-back, I’ll also be happy to play there. But ja, hopefully, one day I’ll get an opportunity to go.”
