BAFANA Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba might be holding auditions on who will take over the captaincy left vacant by Senzo Meyiwa's tragic death but in the long run he may need to look no further than Rivaldo Coetzee.

That is according to South Africa's most capped player and former captain Aaron Mokoena, who had as youthful a start to his international career as Coetzee.

Coetzee's career is at an embryonic stage compared to the rest of the squad that will do duty against Sudan in Durban on November 15, but he played with a maturity that belied his 18 years in the two games against Congo last month.

The Ajax Cape Town youngster broke Mokoena's 15-year record as the youngest capped Bafana player when, at 17, he put himself as a wall between the Congo attackers and the Bafana goal in a 2-0 win in Pointe Noire last month.

"I see the next Bafana captain in him," Mokoena said. "He is a player that is never flustered and I see a bright future for him.

"He managed to gel well with the seniors and quickly. In his last game against Congo he was playing at left centre-half and he's a right-footed player. For the mere fact that he was able to play that well where most defenders would feel uncomfortable showed that this boy is a future Bafana captain to me.

"I remember early in my Bafana career and how assuring it was to start alongside Lucas [Radebe] and Mark Fish.

"I was nervous for Rivaldo during his first game because I could relate with the feeling he had but watching him play, he didn't look nervous at all."

Mokoena - nicknamed Mbazo - took to South Africa's central defence under pressure to continue the legacy of great centre backs left by Radebe. He went on to earn over a century of caps and led Bafana in the 2010 World Cup on home soil.