Gift Links, who has been eyeing a recall to the Bafana Bafana fold, narrowly missed out on a UEFA Europa League spot after his Danish side Aarhus GF lost in a cup final against Silkeborg.
Links earned his side a spot in the Danish Cup final after his stunning shot got them a 1-0 win over Nordsjaelland in the semi-final second leg.
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The winner of the cup final gains entry to the UEFA Europa League qualifiers in the third round.
However, AGF went down 1-0 to Silkeborg in the final last week.
After following Links' progression from the semi-finals, KickOff caught up with Paul Mitchell, Director of SSG, to hear his thoughts on the performance in the final.
"It was a good game, very good atmosphere, both set of fans, big crowd. Look, it was a bit of a cagey game, it was just one of those games where they (AGF) could have had a goal or two, but it wasn't to be," Mitchell revealed.
"Both teams acquitted themselves well. Gift had a good game, he started on the right wing and then went to left wing-back during the game. Yes, it was disappointing, but it's a great achievement getting to the final in the first place, so it's good."
Links, at only 25, has been a regular for AGF since joining in the 2019/20 season and has played 33 matches in all competitions this campaign.
However, he has not been selected for Bafana Bafana since 2021, during the early reign of head coach Hugo Broos when he started in a goalless draw against Zimbabwe, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
After missing out on Bafana's preliminary squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria and Zimbabwe, Mitchell did not have answers on why the former Cape Town City star has not been selected in recent times.
"All he can do is keep on doing what he has been doing, which is playing week in and week out at a higher level than the PSL. Any selections is up to other people, Gift's concentration is on AGF," explained Mitchell.
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Broos announced his 36-man preliminary squad on Wednesday, and is expected to cut it down to 23 players before the players assemble for camp from end of May to early June after the Nedbank Cup final.
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