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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
When Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena lead his team to a 5-0 win over Guatamala in a friendly international match on Monday. It was Bafana's biggest ever win and Mokoena also made his same into the record books. He made his 100th appearance for the national team - another first. It took him 11 years to reach this milestone. He shares the journey:  How does it feel reaching this milestone, something that has never been done before? I am very privileged and I feel honoured to be the first player to reach a milestone of hundred caps. It means a lot to me. Words can never describe how I feel about getting to where I am now. What are your thoughts to captain a team at the World Cup? I am not going to lie and say I don't think about it everyday. To be honest it's a dream come true and I have never imagined that someday it will happen. I have been to a few Africa Cup of Nations tournaments as captain but nothing beats this one, it's something I will cherish for as long as I live. But at the same time let's not forget it's not about the captain only - football is a team sport, there are ten other players with me on the field and some more on the bench - what I mean by that is that the biggest honour is representing your country, then being captain is an added bonus. What is your most memorable game in a Bafana Bafana jersey? As you know when we play our neighbours on the continent they always want to beat Bafana Bafana, but the one match that stands out was against Ivory Coast in Polokwane (22 June 2003). We needed a win to qualify for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia. We faced a red-hot Didier Drogba on the day but still we managed to beat them two one (2-1). It was a very difficult match, a very tense affair but in the end we won. How far do you think Bafana Bafana can go in the World Cup? We are all aware that we are in a tough group, playing against teams that are very experienced and two of them have won the World Cup before (Uruguay and France) but our target is to move from the group stages and proceed as far as we can. We have to take each game as it comes and not put ourselves under unnecessary pressure and then the sky is the limit. Your second World Cup, will your experience help this time around? At this level you need experience, and having played at the 2002 World Cup tournament in Korea and Japan I can safely say I came back with loads of experience because as a player you learn and acquire experience everyday. So my experience should come in handy but as I said before it's not only about me, it's about the team as we have very experienced players who are playing in top flight football and have won titles at their various clubs. So their experience will be valuable too. Message to the millions of supporters. This is the first World Cup on the African continent, we as South Africans are privileged to represent the continent by hosting this big event, we have to get together and show the world that South Africa has what it takes in terms of support and delivering a world class event. It's a perfect opportunity for South Africa to sell herself to the world. more interviews...
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