Booth ready to fight for Bafana place

Former South Africa under-23 captain Matthew Booth is determined to make up for the three wasted years when various Bafana Bafana coaches condemned him to the international wilderness.

At 31 years of age, he has issued a challenge to established central defenders such as national captain Aaron Mokoena of English club Blackburn Rovers, Spain-based Nasief Morris and Bevin Fransman, who plays in Israel, and SuperSport United star Morgan Gould, the latest addition to the Bafana defence.

Booth made it clear that he was determined to push hard for a place in the starting line-up for Bafana's final 2010 African Nations Cup qualifier away to Equatorial Guinea on Saturday (kickoff 5pm SA time).

The former Capetonian, who led Amaglug-glug to the 2000 Sydney Games, criticised the way the South African Football Association had failed to capitalise on the crop of youngsters that helped the country win a place in the Olympics, where they scored a victory over the star-studded Brazil.

"There has been no continuity," the straight-talking defender said. "Safa should have kept the core of that SA under-23 side that succeeded not just in qualifying for the Olympics, but did well in Sydney and looked to have laid the foundation for a solid future Bafana squad.

"What Safa should have done was to keep that side intact and add more (quality) players to build a strong, experienced squad."

Booth said of his call-up: "I am determined to make the most of this new opportunity. I got a recall and played my heart out in the friendly against Guinea last month. Despite the fact that we lost 1-0, the coach (Joel Santana) must have seen something he liked by bringing me back for (Saturday's) game.

"The competition for places is stiff. That is the way I like it. I have overcome challenges in Russia and, at 31, I feel I am in my prime as a defender. I bring a lot of experience to the squad, and I aim to fight hard in the coming months to clinch a place in the squad for next year's Confederations Cup and, of course, the 2010 World Cup finals." - Sapa