Rangers star Bongani Zungu is en route to the South Africa camp for an international double-header against minnows São Tomé e Príncipe.
Zungu impressed with his positivity and range of passing on debut for the Gers in Sunday’s win over Hamilton at Ibrox and he’s now heading back home in the hope of getting more game time.
The Bafana Bafana squad began training in Durban on Monday but a number of Europe-based players were absent.
Zungu and former Gers midfielder, Dean Furman, who currently plays in EFL League Two with Carlisle United, are both currently travelling to the camp and are expected to arrive on Tuesday evening.
Rangers outclassed Hamilton on Sunday and these Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers could be similarly one-sided.
That’s because South Africa are currently 72nd in the FIFA World Rankings and São Tomé are 182nd [FIFA.com].
The island nation has a population of just over 200,000 and although they made it through a two-leg preliminary round at the expense of Mauritius, they lost their first two qualifiers, prior to the footballing shutdown, against Sudan and Ghana.
To put their ranking into context, they sit behind UEFA members Malta and Lichtenstein in the table, but they are regarded as superior to Gibraltar and San Marino.
Rangers’ latest signing isn’t likely to be overly tested in the fixtures, but with six vital qualification points up for grabs, the South Africa players will need to stay focused.
The first fixture will take place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday evening before the squads move to Port Elizabeth for the second fixture, which kicks off at 3pm local time on Monday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
