Malibongwe Khoza surprised by early Bafana call-up for crucial World Cup qualifiers

South Africa play Zimbabwe on Friday and Rwanda on Tuesday in their last two qualifiers in a bid to secure their place at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.

The 21-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns defender played 30 games in all competitions for the Brazilians last term, scoring two goals, and this season has made eight appearances, scoring once.

He was also part of the recent African Nations Championship squad, where he excelled with the Bafana B team.

Khoza said in the Sowetan: "I didn't think my call-up was going to come this early. But I was always working hard and motivated to make sure that I work on my next [target] and perform every game.

"The team [Sundowns] let me know when I went to CHAN that they wanted me to gain the national team experience. So, I went there, got some experience, some minutes, then I started playing more and getting my confidence back.

"As players, we tend to look down on COSAFA and CHAN [games], but I don't think it's supposed to be that way. Playing there is the way of getting experience for some players who can't break into the national team. When you go to COSAFA or CHAN, you get national team experience and you grow and learn how other countries play."

Bafana, are currently in second place in Group C with 14 points, behind leaders Benin on goal-difference.