Bafana Bafana star Aubrey Modiba has reportedly set a new milestone at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Here's a look!
The story
The Mamelodi Sundowns player has been one of the standout players in the AFCON group stages, helping his country to a second successive qualification for the tournament's round of 16.
The 28-year-old, who has 16 caps for Bafana to date, has started in all three games against Mali, Namibia, and Tunisia, keeping two clean sheets in the process.
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His excellent defensive display at the showpiece now sees him top an important defensive metric.
According to the football data and insights platform, Laduma Analytics, Modiba has completed the most ball recoveries during the AFCON group stage, recovering possession a whopping 30 times in just three games.
His compatriot, midfielder Sphephelo Sithole, has also been defensively sound, making 20 ball recoveries from the middle of the park.
Modiba has since revealed he is relishing the opportunity of playing at AFCON, as he did miss out on Bafana's previous appearances in 2019.
In a recent interview with iDiski Times, Modiba spoke about the prospect of going overseas in the future.
He said: "Yeah, funny enough after the game that guy from Mali asked me where I'm playing..
"I said I'm playing in South Africa and he said 'no, my friend you need to go overseas' (chuckles). That's what he said and I was like 'Oh, actually, there are like a lot of opportunities here'.
"I think I said it is a huge tournament, being broadcasted by… is it SkySports in England, UK? It shows the importance of this tournament and scouts, the network, millions of people are watching this tournament and you will never know who's watching.
"I think it's up to us as players to raise our hand to be able to get that recognition. Like you said, it's every child's dream. It's been my dream ever since I was a kid to play for one of the big teams in the PSL and make it abroad and play for Bafana Bafana as well.
"So I think it's up to us as players because the scouting department is very huge here. It's closer to Europe, it's not far from Europe and yeah you never know who is watching us"
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