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Discussions between Safa and the home affairs department are ongoing over Bafana Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter’s bid to secure South African passports for little-known defenders Joel Untersee (25) and Nikola Tavares (20).
Baxter raised eyebrows when he included the pair – referring to them as “passport pending players” – in the senior national team’s 30-man provisional Afcon squad.
The coach had hinted during a press briefing at Safa House on Tuesday that he was due to meet authorities this week so that the European-based duo could join the team’s pre-Afcon training camp, which starts on Sunday and continues until June 12.
“We are in discussions with the relevant authorities within home affairs and we’ll revert once we have a final outcome,” said Safa acting chief executive Russell Paul on Friday.
Baxter has been in hot pursuit of FC Zurich’s right back Untersee and Crystal Palace centre back Tavares for some time.
The two have already played for Switzerland and Croatia at age-limit levels, but Fifa rules allow players to swap alliances at senior level.
“If they get passports, they will attach themselves to the squad in Joburg and find out if they are the right material and experienced enough,” Baxter said.
But what is so special about the two players who haven’t even kicked a ball for Bafana during the Afcon qualifiers?
Untersee was born in South Africa and relocated to Switzerland with his parents. He has seen little action at FC Zurich since transferring from Italy’s Empoli FC in January, playing only five full games in a period dogged by injuries. He missed his team’s past four official matches after being injured on April 28, leading to Baxter not being able to see him in action during his visit to Switzerland earlier this month.
Tavares was born in Cape Town to a Croatian mother and South African-Portuguese father. He was called up to the SA Under-23 team in March, but was left out of the team’s two-leg 2020 Olympic qualifier against Angola after it emerged that his South African passport had expired and required a long administration process to renew.
He was promoted to the senior team this season after he impressed in the club’s development teams. He made 26 appearances and scored once for the Palace reserve team this season.
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