The battle for South African born 'super talent' between Bafana Bafana and Nigeria is far from over thanks to amended rules by FIFA.
SuperSport United young defender Ime Okon still finds himself between a rock and hard place on which national team to represent, as he was born in South Africa, to a Nigerian father and a South African mother and therefore has a dual citizenship.
Okon has made the Bafana Bafana preliminary squads a couple of times under head coach Hugo Broos but he is yet to feature on the field.
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Bafana legend, Andre Arendse, who works closely with the young centre-back as assistant coach to head coach Gavin Hunt at Matsatsantsa, says it is paramount that South Africa acts quickly to tie up Okon so he is not lost to the Super Eagles as he compared his talent to the best centre-backs he has played alongside at Bafana.
"Ime Okon is the next one on the radar (after Ronwen Williams) and I don’t want to hype him up or put him out there and say he is the best because he is only 20," Arendse said in the Nedbank Cup last 16 pre-match press conference, in the absence of Hunt.
"He is a super talent but I am not intending to put pressure on him though I know he can handle it. He is starting to prove he can handle pressure during games and we need to look after him.
"You spoke about dual citizenship and we better be careful we don’t lose him because he is definitely one for the future. I know what I am talking about because I have had the privilege of playing behind some of the best defenders in South Africa," he said.
"I don’t need to mention names, you guys know who I am talking about, but I am telling you in a few year's time he’s going to be up there," he added.
FIFA amended their eligibility rules of players with dual citizenship in 2020 and a player is not tied to one country if he makes only one appearance for the senior national team as it was the case previously.
A player can still change his national team if he is capped less than three times (including friendlies), provided that the matches were not in continental tournaments, i.e Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), World Cup finals, the player is still under the age of 21 and was eligible for that particular country before making those appearances.
So if Okon impresses for Bafana after two games, excluding continental and World Cup finals, he can still switch to Nigeria, if he is still under 21.
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