A former Bafana Bafana captain has come out and criticised Lyle Foster for his attitude despite the Burnley striker only recently returning to action after taking time out because of his reported mental health challenges.
South Africa legend Aaron Mokoena questions why Foster is mentally ready to play in the Premier League while he can't play for Bafana in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
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“Look, it’s easy to come out and say ‘I don’t want to play for the national team anymore or you pick and choose the matches (you want to play)',” Mokoena told GameOn on Radio2000.
According to South Africa head coach Hugo Broos when he addressed various media on the matter recently, Foster had written a letter requesting to be excused for the Afcon finals due to his reported mental health challenges. Notably, Burnley manager Vincent Kompany had stated that it's the club's doctors who feel Foster cannot participate at Afcon as he needs time to completely recover.
In November last year, the Clarets had then originally revealed the striker’s struggles with mental health and that Foster needed a break from the game even though he was bang on form scoring goals for club and country. This seems to indicate that even though Foster was playing and scoring goals, his mental health issues still need to be taken very seriously. Despite this, Mokoena criticises Foster and compares him to South African players who were not committed to play every game for their country.
“I can think of a Benni (McCarthy). Benni once said 'I’m retiring from international games', you know? So, it’s easy to say it. Right now, it’s up to the boy because if he had those mental problems why is he still playing in a busy period every three days?
"The question comes up to say, 'does he want to play for the country or not?' I think he is the only one to answer that question. But we all need him. We all need him,” Mokoena believes.
“All I can say is that the moment he doesn’t play for Burnley than he will remember Bafana Bafana if he doesn’t want to play for the country,” he added.
The Premier League in England has gone through their typical busy festive season schedule and now the FA Cup fixtures are in, though each club will be given a two-week break in January. It can be argued that this break will benefit Foster better than pushing hard again during the Afcon in the Ivory Coast.
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