Bafana Bafana’s one-cap wonders

With the amount of experimentation that goes on with the national team jersey these days, one-cap wonders are commonplace, with over 120 players having had just a single outing for Bafana Bafana since readmission.

That is a massive statistic and a symptom of the sometimes scattergun approach by coaches, as well as the vagaries of the various competitions the national side plays in.

We have trawled trough the records and picked our best one-cap wonders since 1992.

WAYNE ARENDSE: The centre back won five league titles with Mamelodi Sundowns but only one cap for the country, in a friendly against Equatorial Guinea in Bata in 2012 when Pitso Mosimane was in charge. Arendse was then still at Santos but moved to the Brazilians soon after.

ROGER DE SA: The much-travelled coach had a single game in goal for South Africa away against Zambia in 1993, after regular keeper Steve Crowley could not get off work! De Sa was adjudged to have carried the ball back over his own line in the first minute of the game and Bafana eventually lost 3-0.

SIMON GOPANE: When Brian Baloyi was injured at the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations finals, Gopane played in the 4-1 win over Namibia where Benni McCarthy scored a hattrick. He also went to the World Cup in 1998 as an injury replacement.

PRINCE HLELA: The fullback from Bloemfontein Celtic played only a single minute for South Africa in a friendly against Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam in 2011. He came in stoppage time for the shortest Bafana career last minute for Mzuvukile Tom.

THABANG LEBESE: A fan favourite at Kaizer Chiefs but he only got one cap against Namibia in Jomo Sono’s first game in charge in 1998, when Bafana lost in Windhoek in the Cosafa Cup. He also played in South Africa’s first under-23 international but was found later to have been over age!

SHANE MACGREGOR: Top scorer for Rangers and Kaizer Chiefs, he fell out with Bafana coach Stanley ‘Screamer’ Tshabalala at half-time of the horror 4-1 defeat by Zimbabwe in Harare in 1992 and was taken off, never to play again.

ALBERT MAHLANGU: ‘Bashin’ made his debut aged 33 in Augusto Palacios’ first match in charge, coming on as a second half substitute in the friendly against Botswana in Gaborone but not being used again.

JOSEPH MAKHANYA: The Orlando Pirates dribble wizard was selected for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt in2006 as one of Ted Dumitru’s many surprise choices for the tournament. But he was only used once, as a 67th minute substitute, in the loss to Zambia in Alexandria as Bafana lost all three group games and went home early.

PATRICK MBUTHU: One of the stars of the under-23 golden generation, although he missed out on the Sydney Olympics where Amaglug-glug beat Brazil. He was highly rated by his teammates but his party ways meant he was not even training at Chiefs when Shakes Mashaba called him up for a Cup of Nations qualifier against Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan in 2002.

NATHAN PAULSE: Well liked striker who got a rare opportunity to compete in international football in Bafana’s famous 1-0 away win over Zambia in Lusaka in 2006, coming on for just two minutes at the end in place of Siyabonga Nomvethe.