Onyedikachi Ononogbu earns Bafana stripes

Dream comes true for one of the new faces serving SA ahead of Chan.

Although Onyedikachi Ononogbu has strong Nigerian roots, the 21-year-old Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) winger is eligible to represent his country of birth – South Africa. Born in Johannesburg to a South African mother and a Nigerian father, Ononogbu realised his long-held dream this week.

He is one of the new faces of a second-string Bafana Bafana side that will face Lesotho away in the second round of the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers on Sunday.

Ononogbu is one of 10 NFD players who have been called up by SA under-23 coach David Notoane, who will guide the team in place of the senior team’s tactician Stuart Baxter, who is on holiday.

The Chan tournament has been problematic for clubs since its inception in 2009 and the latest fixture comes smack in the middle of preseason training. Going mainly with players from the lower division is a tactic to avert potential club versus country tensions ahead of a competition that falls outside the Fifa calendar.

This has presented a big chance for the likes of Ononogbu, who will do his best to stake his claim in a team that, under normal circumstances, would be littered with Premier League and overseas-based players.

For Ononogbu, representing South Africa has been high up on his wish list since he came through the ranks via the famed Stars of Africa Academy and third division side Baberwa FC.

Onyedikachi Ononogbu. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

“Many people thought I was from Nigeria, but I was born and grew up in Ivory Park in Midrand,” he told City Press.

“Although they are separated now, my mother Nomvula was married to my father Johnson, who is Nigerian.”

The budding player speaks fluent Sesotho and isiZulu.

“I am really excited at the prospect of playing for the national team,” said the player known as Neymar among his peers – after the Brazilian football star.

“TTM has given me the platform to work towards ticking off my life goals,” he said.

“Now that I have received a call-up to the national team, I see this as an opportunity to never let it go and I will work my way into coach David Notoane’s Olympic squad.”

The Under-23s will resume their bid for qualification for the 2020 Olympics against Zimbabwe in September.

For now, Ononogbu and his team-mates have a mission to qualify South Africa for the Chan finals in Ethiopia next year.

If given a run, he is hoping to ride the wave of great form he displayed last season – he scored six goals in 35 appearances in all competitions.

“Naturally, I will be a bit nervous when I report for the national team camp, but I am looking forward to it as most of the players are familiar people who I have played with regularly in the NFD,” said Ononogbu, who joined TTM last season.

Notoane retained most of the players who took part in the recent senior Cosafa Cup tournament in Durban. In the competition, held between May and last month, South Africa won the “plate” after beating Malawi 5-4 on penalties.

The match on Sunday will take place at the Setsoto Stadium in Maseru, with the return leg scheduled for August 4 in Johannesburg – a day after the Absa Premiership campaign kicks off.

Bafana were this week drawn in the same group as Ghana, Sudan and the winner of the preliminary match between Mauritius and Sao Tome in the 2021 Afcon qualification series. The tournament will take place in Cameroon.

	Daniel Mothowagae Deputy sports editor City Press p: +27 11 713 9587 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: Daniel.Mothowagae@citypress.co.za
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