By OBAKENG MAJE
10 May 2025 – Neo Maema will captain the South African side that will face Malawi in a crucial African Nations Championship (CHAN) second leg qualifier at Loftus Stadium on Sunday.
Kickoff is at 3pm.
Maema missed the first leg in Lilongwe due to club commitments and Kwanda Mngonyama captained the team in his absence. Malawi beat coach Molefi Ntseki’s side 1-0 courtesy of a late 88th-minute goal by Zeliat Nkhoma and the South Africans will be looking to reverse the result if they are to qualify for the CHAN.
Ntseki confirmed that he is reverting back to Maema, who captained the team in the previous CHAN qualifying round when the South Africans beat Egypt 4-2 on aggregate, including an impressive away 3-1 victory in Ismailia.
“In the previous camp (against Egypt in March), Maema was voted as captain of the team. The captain for the Malawi match is in the camp, but the captain is back. As of now, Maema is the team captain.
“Kwanda was given the armband for the match against Malawi and he is fully aware of the change. When SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan came to visit the team in camp this week, the captain had to address the President and everybody,” he said.
Ntseki further said they will be going back to Maema as the captain of the team and then have Kwanda as his deputy. He added that Maema was happy to be back in the fold and he said he would do his utmost to help the team reverse the first leg result and clinch qualification to the CHAN tournament.
“Some of the players here don’t play much in their teams, me included, so it’s always nice before the big occasion to just put (in the work) and see how far we are as a team, so that the coaches prepare us in a proper way, so that come Sunday, we get the results.
“I mean it has been twelve years since we qualified for the competition, and as a leader of the team, it is very important that I encourage the guys and tell them it is very important for us to make it to the CHAN tournament, and it will be history with this group of players,”said Maema.
He said it is not only just about this game or qualifying, but also about putting their names in the history books, which is important for them in their careers, individually and as a team.
Tickets to Sunday’s match are available at Ticketpro and other participating outlets. Ticketpro – South Africa vs Malawi – 11 May 2025.
The Guardian 