Oldham Athletic midfielder Dean Furman will be representing South Africa proudly and with no club predicament that so many European-based African players face during the biennial AFCON tournament.
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"There wasn't too much of a decision in my eyes - if I made the squad, I really wanted to be there," said Furman who's played five times for SA.
"It's a great honour for me to play for South Africa and representing my nation in a massive tournament will be one of the pinnacles of my career."
Tottenham Hotspur have accepted the loss of striker Emmanuel Adebayor who will captain Togo, while Manchester City must make do without three African players including Ivory Coast playmaker Yaya Toure.
"You see it every year," Furman continued. "Players all over are missing games. That is a difficulty, but when your country comes calling, it's very hard to turn down," said the Cape Town-born player.
Bafana Bafana are in Group A and will face Cape Verde on January 19 in the first game of the AFCON, before taking on Angola and Morocco on the 23rd and 27th respectively.
"We've got a tricky group and we hope we can get through that," added Furman. "After that, it's knock-out football and we all know that anything can happen.
"It will be an incredible tournament to play in. We'll have the nation's backing and hopefully we can give them a team to be proud of."
Bafana take on Norway in a warm-up match on Tuesday which Furman will miss as he only joined the squad on Sunday, a day after helping Oldham beat Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round.
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