DURBAN – Janine Van Wyk is in two minds about her international career with Banyana Banyana.
Van Wyk ,31, is the most capped Banyana player of all time. The Alberton born skipper has acquired 159 caps and netted 11 strikes for the team. She has been with Banyana for 14 years now, having made her debut in 2005.
Van Wyk has been to two Olympic Games and multiple Africa Women’s Championships.
The explosive and hard-tackling defender is in two minds about what to do after the World Cup in France in June and July.
“You get to that time where you think about it but as a athlete, you don’t want to give up. You have to think about life after football. I still believe that I can go for another three to four years but you never know what might happen,” Van Wyk said.
Banyana are busy with their World Cup preparations in Durban. On Sunday, they will welcome Jamaica to the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban for a friendly match at 3pm.
“After the World Cup, I can still decide ‘that’s it for me, I want to pursue something else in my career and in my life!’
“As footballer and as passionate as I am I could properly say I will go until 250. But it will also be up to the coaches if they still feel that I can contribute in to the national team. There’s still a whole lot of decisions that need to be made after the World Cup,” she added.
Leandra Smeda and Janine Van Wyk during a Banyana Banyana training session. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu / BackpagePix
Van Wyk has seen it all with Banyana and has enjoyed a very successful stint as a captain.
“I don’t know, it might be and it might not be. I will always continue until I can’t go anymore and until I can feel that there are other players who could possible do better for the national team than me.
“Like I said, I can give three more years and see how it goes,” Van Wyk explained.
Banyana will be playing in front of their own supporters for the last time on Sunday.
“The preparations have been going well. We’ve been together for the past two days and we are only starting to get to it. We are looking to get the ball rolling again. We need to sharpen up against Jamaica.
We hope to push to the best of our ability and we want to rebuild our confidence by getting a good result on Sunday,” Van Wyk said.