Thapelo Morena relishing Bafana Bafana return for Afcon qualifiers

Mamelodi Sundowns utility player Thapelo Morena says he is delighted to be back in the Bafana Bafana squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea later this month.

Morena was named in South Africa’s preliminary World Cup squad but suffered an injury before the tournament. After recovering, he has played regularly for Sundowns in the Betway Premiership, filling in for the injured Khuliso Mudau.

His form earned him a place in the final squad announced by coach Pitso Mosimane on Thursday.

“It’s a great feeling seeing my name on the list yesterday,” Morena said.

“Being back is one of the best things to me. I think the big thing that I have learnt is accepting what happened and focusing on the future because we don’t know what that holds for you.

“I’m trying to do things a bit differently, mostly in the gym and all that, and trying to see what went wrong and what I can fix in terms of situations that I had.

“Some of the situations were not like hamstring injuries, but it is something that I accepted going to focus on the future.”

Morena could feature when Sundowns host Al-Ahli Saudi in the Fifa Intercontinental Cup at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday. The match is scheduled to kick off at 3pm, with Sundowns aiming to win and reach the semi-final.

The club face a demanding period, with the Fifa Intercontinental Cup, MTN8 final, Super Cup and CAF Champions League all forming part of their schedule.

Despite the number of competitions ahead, Morena said Sundowns would concentrate on their immediate fixture rather than looking too far forward.

“The most important thing is the team ― we have a culture here, and what we do is we take each game as it comes before focusing on other competitions,” he said.

“So, the most important one for now is the one we are going to play tomorrow.”