Maritzburg United's Belgian striker Andrea Fileccia has told of his desire to play for Bafana Bafana once he qualifies for South African citizenship at the end of the current season.
Fileccia was brought to SA at the beginning of the 2014/15 campaign to join Free State Stars by his compatriot Tom Saintfiet‚ who was then coach of Ea Lla Koto.
“I'm a striker and my job is to score goals and I think if selected I can contribute goals for Bafana Bafana‚” the Maritzburg striker told TimesLIVE on Friday.
Fileccia would have spent five years in the country at end of the current season which qualifies him for citizenship and‚ should the SA Football Association (Safa) approach him‚ the 26-year-old striker said that his answer would be “a big yes.”
“Also for the fact that I’ve been playing in the PSL for so long now and that I know the players well and the playing culture‚ so for me if I get an opportunity to play for Bafana I won’t have to do a lot of adjusting as I know the players very well.
Fileccia's fancy for Bafana was tickled by a letter he came across in a local soccer magazine in which a fan made a plea to football authorities to naturalised the Belgian striker and rope him into national team.
The Maritzburg striker‚ however‚ revealed that the idea to play for Bafana has “sometimes crossed my mind.”
He said that the idea was reignited when he came across that letter.
After reading the letter‚ Fileccia then posted it on his Twitter account with the words "Make Fileccia a South African…what do you think about that?"