Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena will be looking to put a fraught EPL season behind him as he leads the host’s World Cup challenge.

The 29-year-old midfielder spent the season at EPL crisis club Portsmouth. And he joins the South African squad fresh from a starring role in his side’s brave FA Cup final defeat at Wembley Stadium to English double winners Chelsea.

Mokoena walked into Portsmouth’s crisis when he signed for the cash-strapped English South Coast outfit last summer after four years at fellow EPL side Blackburn Rovers.

 

Prior to his EPL sojourn, Mokoena spent five years in Holland and Belgium, including a spell at famous Dutch side Ajax of Amsterdam, much of which was spent out on-loan to Belgian clubs.

He made his Bafana Bafana debut in 1999 during the Olympic qualifying tournament; making him South Africa’s youngest-ever international.

Mokoena captained South Africa in the 2008 African Cup of Nations and is expected to win his 100^th international cap in the run-up to the finals, as he joined the squad after their first warm-up match with 97 to his name.