Bafana Bafana captain Thulani Hlatshwayo says he is looking forward to the prospect of having a long haul as the national team captain.

The South African national team are gearing up to face the Super Eagles in their African Cup of Nations qualifiers, which is set to take place in  Nigeria.

The Bidvest Wits captain says that he is relishing the chance to take up the responsibility of the captain’s armband, because of the support from his teammates.

‘If you are a leader and you get the support of your troops, half your battle is won,’ Hlatshwayo told Safa.net.

‘But on a more serious note, it is nice to wear a captain’s armband. Although I have done this before, I think this time we are entering a new era.’

Hlatshwayo insists that Bafana Bafana are out to prove themselves in the hopes of walking away with a positive result against the Super Eagles.

‘It more like a baptism of fire to get this ahead of the Nigeria game, but we have played Nigeria before and we came close to beating them twice in our last two meetings, and I think they are there for the taking this time around,’ he added.

‘It’s somehow a familiar environment because I was then involved in those last two encounters, and we should come back with a positive result. But Nigeria is a strong side, we need to respect them and show real character.

‘Nigeria are a proud and arrogant team, but I still believe we have now overcome that psychological barrier of not having beaten them in a competitive match, yet we could have done so in the past two games.’

Photo: Safa website