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The sensational new Banyana Banyana midfielder Stephanie Malherbe (20) is a proudly South African footballer.
She could have chosen to play for Olympic Games and World Cup winners USA.
But the 20-year-old, who was born and grew up in California, chose to play for the country where her parents were born.
Her family lives in Cape Town. Still, she wouldn’t trade any country for South Africa.
Her journey to the national women’s football team started a year ago and she couldn’t have asked for a bigger platform to officially launch her international career than the Olympic Games.
Many South Africans who watched Banyana go down 2-0 to the People’s Republic of China at the Olympic Stadium in Rio last week, and the goalless draw against Brazil on Wednesday, might be wondering who Malherbe is and where she comes from.
Most are wondering how she even got a call-up in the first place and which league is she playing in.
City Press caught up with this little-known Banyana player after their game against Brazil.
It was not her first match against China, but still most people don’t know her.
She made her debut against Cameroon in the build-up to the Olympic Games in March, but that match was not televised for fans to see.
But she did do enough to convince coach Vera Pauw to take her to the biggest sporting event in the world.
Malherbe said: “I am relatively new to this team because I just got my citizenship and my passport recently, which is what was needed for me to play for my country, and I love it. I was born and raised in the States, but my parents and relatives all live in Cape Town.
“And a year ago I started the process of reaching out to the coach [Pauw] in pursuit of fulfilling my dreams of playing for Banyana Banyana.”
In May 2015, she flew to South Africa for trials with Pauw and, as they say, the rest is history.
The coach monitored her progress as she plays her football in the US College Football League.
“The coach was impressed by me, but she couldn’t pick me for a friendly and other qualifying matches because my passport took too long to complete, and I missed out on the qualifying games. But I got another invitation to come and prepare for the Olympics with the team in January.”
Malherbe hopes to have a successful career with Banyana and she is excited about representing South Africa in international football.
Fans will see a lot of her from now as she is a big part of the team.
