Emile Heskey (centre) highlights the significance of South Africa’s return to the FIFA World Cup, expressing hope for increased global representation and opportunities for fans to witness their teams in action. Picture: PAUL ELLIS / AFP
Image: PAUL ELLIS / AFP
Former Liverpool and England footballer Emile Heskey says Bafana Bafana being back at the FIFA World Cup is a good thing for the global audience of the game.
The 48-year-old Heskey made 150 appearances for Liverpool between 2000 and 2004 and also represented his nation on 62 occasions from 1999 to 2010.
Bafana, meanwhile, have not appeared at a FIFA World Cup since they qualified automatically as hosts in 2010.
The last time Bafana actually qualified for the quadrennial showpiece was the 2002 edition.
"South Africa might struggle with the higher number of teams this year, but it’s still great to see other nations qualify. It gives everyone hope,” Heskey told Hajper.
"My parents are from the Caribbean, and it gives us hope that we might see more Caribbean nations in the World Cup one day. You never know, it might happen. We’ve seen Jamaica qualify in the past and Trinidad and Tobago too. For these nations, it’s great to see the World Cup expand.”
This year’s edition has been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
"We just have to hope it doesn’t diminish the quality of the competition because it’s great to see different countries competing, and for nations like South Africa whose fans will want to travel over to the USA, and you’ll even have South Africans working in America.
"Now they might get to see their country playing at the World Cup. They probably never thought they’d be able to see that in the USA, so it’s a great opportunity.”
Bafana take on Jamaica in their final warm-up match at the Pachuca's Hidalgo Stadium on Saturday to make any last-minute tweaks to their strategy or even their team makeup ahead of the FIFA World Cup. Kick-off will be at 11pm SA time.