South African players continue to be left out in the cold in Europe

Bafana Bafana striker Dino Ndlovu found the back of the net for his Azerbaijani side Qarabag at the weekend‚ but other national team hopefuls remain sidelined at their clubs to give coach Shakes Mashaba sleepless nights.

Ndlovu scored in injury time of a 3-0 victory for his team over Sumqayit.

It is his first goal in the country’s Premier League‚ and second for the club overall having netted in the UEFA Europa League against Italian side Fiorentina earlier in the campaign.

He appears to have settled in well at his new club after the move from Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta‚ where he scored 18 goals last season.

But for most other players with national team ambitions‚ it was a frustrating weekend as they sat inactive.

Ayanda Patosi was an unused substitute for Belgian side Lokeren as they lost 1-0 at Anderlecht‚ this despite his goal-scoring exploits for Bafana against Ghana last week.

Andile Jali missed the recent internationals with Mashaba’s side through injury‚ and was on the bench for KV Oostende as they won 3-2 at Mechelen.

Jali has still yet to play a club match this season as a mixture of injury and a desire to leave in the last transfer window has cost him.

Thulani Serero did play in both games for Bafana against Burkina Faso and Ghana‚ but remains sidelined at Ajax Amsterdam‚ where he is not part of the first team squad.

He was nowhere to be seen again this weekend.

So too Mandla Masango‚ who is not part of the plans at Danish team Randers after making it clear he no longer wanted to play for the team.

That appears to have cost him his national team place.

Bongani Zungu had been tipped to make his bow for Portuguese club Vitoria Guimaraes this past weekend as they took on lower league Santa Iria in the Portuguese Cup‚ but he was once again excluded from the side and must wait a while longer.

Daylon Claasen (1860 Munich) and Kermit Erasmus (Rennes) both failed to make it off the bench in Germany and France respectively.

Tokelo Rantie‚ who failed to pitch for the recent Bafana camp despite travelling to South Africa‚ came on as a late substitute for his Turkish side Genclerbirligi as they lost 1-0 at home to Galatasaray.

Rantie has now made three appearances off the bench for his new club‚ but has yet to hit the back of the net.

Two players who have been ignored by the Mashaba in the past continue to be regulars at their clubs though.

Kamohelo Mokotjo played for FC Twente in their 2-2 draw with PEC Zwolle‚ though he is on a self-imposed exile from the national team.

And Lebogang Phiri did played for Danish club Brondby in their 1-1 draw at Nordsjælland.

Former Orlando Pirates winger Sameehg Doutie scored his second goal of the season for Atletico do Kolkata in their 1-1 Indian Premier League draw with Goa‚ while Steven Pienaar was a second half substitute for English Premier League side Sunderland as they went down 2-0 at fellow strugglers Stoke City.

Granwald Scott made a second start of the season for Slovan Bratislava as they were held 0-0 in the Slovakian league by Senica‚ while left-back Ricardo Nunes played for Polish outfit Pogoń Szczecin as they claimed an excellent 3-2 victory over Legia Warsaw.

Finally‚ Luther Singh played for Swedish second-tier club GAIS in their 2-1 win over Halmstad and Joel Untersee was in action for Italian Serie B side Brescia in their 1-1 draw with Salernitana.

TMG Digital