Daine Klate gets straight to the point.
The Bidvest Wits man knows this interview is all about his call-up to Bafana Bafana on Thursday, so he wastes no time answering the first obvious question: Why has a decorated player with 12 domestic trophies struggled to consistently make it into the national team?
“I really thought I had done enough to be in the 2010 World Cup squad (under then coach Carlos Alberto Parreira) on home soil, especially after being voted the Footballer of the Year that season,” Klate said.
“This has been eluding me for most of my career. I have made peace with the fact that I missed out but it was the biggest disappointment for me. I always say everything happens for a reason.”
You would understand why it hurts him so much not to have been given an opportunity to represent his country on the biggest global stage for any footballer. At 31, a player who has won three PSL titles with SuperSport United and two more with Orlando Pirates has only made just one start for Bafana. Puzzling!
“I just never got a look-in, never had an opportunity, even when I thought the Player of the Season award was enough,” he said.
“That’s all behind me and it is about this call-up now and the massive game against Senegal that’s coming up.
“I need to make the most of what is in front of me because I can’t predict the future. With all my previous disappointments, you can never turn down the chance to play for your country. You can’t say no,” Klate elaborates further.
He will report for duty along with two of his Wits teammates - captain Thulani Hlatshwayo and Eleazar Rodgers - for Bafana’s second 2018 World Cup qualifier against Group D leaders Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane two weeks from today.
And given how coach Shakes Mashaba justified Klate’s inclusion in his 25-man squad by arguing that the national team were in urgent need of a ‘specialist’ wing player, the father of two is well aware he is probably under pressure to perform, whether he starts the match or gets a 10-minute cameo, as was the case when he last wore the Bafana jersey three years ago in a dead-rubber World Cup qualifier against Bots-wana in Durban.
Klate is yearning to make a serious contribution. His 13 appearances to date - maybe apart from his debut under Stuart Baxter over a decade ago in the Concacaf Gold Cup held in the US - can easily be viewed as low-category matches.
“I’d love to play in the next World Cup (in Russia) and this means looking after myself as best I can. Yes, I can safely say the proper opportunity wasn’t given to me. I don’t think I got as many chances as players in my position,” Klate argues.
“Even when the team weren't doing well for a few years, I never really got a look-in. I played in the Gold Cup in America and thought I would build from there.
“Then the coaches changed a lot and I got five minutes here and 10 there, maybe a half against Lesotho away. Those types of games. The Cosafa Cup against Zambia, coming off the bench.
“I was never really a starting player. If you look at my club career, it is week in, week out that I start a game. I am involved and I am an important player to the team, but I have never had that responsibility at Bafana, always playing with guys more experienced with about 50 caps more than what I have.
“This is not an excuse but I know there will be a lot of talk now that I am there.
“I am not going to put any pressure on myself. I don’t think I have a lot to prove to anybody because at 31, what is there to prove?
“I am just going out there to add value because it is a qualifier against Senegal.”
Can Klate build on being back in the Bafana fold?
“Your time in football is never really up until you decide it’s up. I think there is still time. I will give it my best. What is most important right now is the upcoming game.
“We can talk about my history with Bafana and the future, but my focus is on what is expected of me at this point after being called up,” Klate rounds it off.
Follow Mazola Molefe on Twitter@superjourno
Saturday Star