SIWELELE goalkeeper Ricardo Goss' place in the Bafana Bafana squad is in jeopardy with some tough competition coming from fellow shotstoppers in the league.
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Ricardo Goss is eager to live every footballer’s dream of representing his nation at the Fifa World Cup, but he knows that his selection is not guaranteed for the upcoming event as he faces stiff competition from some of the best goalkeepers in the country.
Bafana Bafana are set to compete at the 2026 global showpiece next month after being drawn in Group A alongside Mexico, South Korea and the Czech Republic, ending a 16-year wait to compete at the tournament.
While Bafana will likely be underdogs in their group, coach Hugo Broos is still expected to select a strong squad that will reflect the team’s growth over the years and show willingness to achieve the improbable by reaching the knockout stage for the first time in four qualifications.
Broos is expected to have the most selection headache in the goalkeeping department when he chooses the two goalkeepers who will deputise Ronwen Williams between Goss, Sipho Chaine and Brandon Petersen.
Goss is the most senior goalkeeper of the trio, having also played for the junior national teams, including the SA U23 side at the Olympics. As such, his experience is expected to come in handy at the global showpiece against some of the most renowned names in world football.
Goss, who was speaking during Siwelele’s media open day in Johannesburg this week ahead of their season finale away to Sekhukhune United on Saturday afternoon (3pm) admitted that he dreams of being part of the team that’ll represent the nation in North America next month.
“I think it's every footballer's dream to represent the country, especially at the World Cup, so it's also been my dream to actually take part in the World Cup, so no pressure,” Goss explained.
Goss knows that it won’t be easy to get the nod for the final squad, stressing that Broos will have a selection headache given the quality at his disposal.
Chaine has enjoyed a dream season at Orlando Pirates, keeping a record-extending 20 clean sheets so far in the team’s Betway Premiership title challenge, while Brandon Petersen has been a knight in shining armour for Kaizer Chiefs, with his 15 clean sheets helping secure third place for his side.
“Obviously it's been difficult (to compete for a spot),” Goss said. “I think you can see the quality of goalkeeping this season has gone up a bit.
“You can even see the number of clean sheets has increased. I don't think we've had more than 15 clean sheets per goalkeeper for three goalkeepers in one season – I'm not sure about that record.”
The rise in goalkeeping standards augurs well for Bafana, given that in the past some called for top-flight clubs to avoid selecting foreign goalkeepers in order to help curb the shortage of quality goalkeepers for the national team.
Goss, though, insisted that being part of major tournaments, including both qualifiers and finals, is what strengthens healthy competition among the goalkeepers.
“But I think, yeah, it's a challenge and hopefully there's a World Cup every year so the league and the standard go a bit higher, but yeah, it's been a challenge,” Goss said.
“And it's an interesting one because there are quite a lot of us who have put our names in the hat, and yeah, we're just waiting for next week to see how that (final squad) looks.”