SuperSport United defender Ime Okon has said he is yet to decide whether to play for his country of birth South Africa or his father’s country Nigeria.
Okon was selected for Bafana Bafana‘s preliminary squad in September for their friendly games against Namibia and DR Congo.
Unfortunately, the 19-year-old whose call-up to the Bafana Bafana squad came after just two games for SuperSport this season, did not make the final 23-man squad for both friendlies.
A teammate with Bafana Bafana vice captain Siyanda Xulu at SuperSport, Okon has played seven out of eight league games for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) side this season.
In a chat with South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), via Soccer Laduma, he said his options are open in terms of playing for South Africa or Nigeria.
“I just don’t want any pressure, but I just keep my mind open to both and whatever comes first then we’ll see what happens because it’s quite a tough decision for me. South Africa is a country I was born and bred in, but Nigeria is my home where my dad is from.
“It’s very tough to make, but I feel like whenever the opportunity comes I’ll take it with both hands.
“I’d say for now it’s better with South Africa because with Hugo Broos he sees us around. With Nigeria, it’ll be quite tough, but I just do my best to also get a call up there.”
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SuperSport are currently third on 16 points – behind Mamelodi (1st) Sundowns and Golden Arrows (2nd) in the 16-team league table.
Meanwhile South Africa and Nigeria are drawn in the same group for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which begins in November this year.
Both ountries crossed path in the World Cup qualifiers was in the first round for the ticket to USA 1994.
Nigeria, South Africa and Congo Brazzaville were in the same group with the three-time AFCON winners advancing to the final round of the qualifiers.
The Eagles thrashed South Africa 4-0 in Lagos and held them to a goalless draw in Johannesburg.
They were also in the same group for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which also served as qualification for the 2010 AFCON in Angola.
4 Comments
CSN, the last time Nigeria clashed with south Africa in world cup qualifiers was in the first group phase of the 2010 qualfiers and we defeated them 2-0 in Abuja with goals from John Utaka and Obinna Nwaneri.
Yea and won then in reverse leg in Johannesburg courtesy of a solo goal by ikechukwu uche
If Ime Okon still rooted with South African League rather than European League for long,he should as well forget donning green ,white and green jersey because hardly could African based Nigerian player would ever make SE team going by array of stars in Europe at present despite that SE defense is not as solid as expected ,though Okon said,it would be quite tough to get SE call up
Okon is a great guy. But I like his optimism. It’d be very tough to convince corrupt fellows in nff about his qualities.