Pienaar announces international retirement

Steven Pienaar has opted to retire from international football citing the physical demands of playing in England at club level and for South Africa at international level.

The 30-year-old only made his views known to South African coach Gordon Igesund on Monday.

'After having given more than ten years' service to the national team, I am now at a stage where physically I am struggling to balance the demands of playing in England with the number of games required by South Africa,' Pienaar told evertonfc.com

He added: 'I am proud to have represented and captained my country, There is a lot of very good young talent coming through and perhaps it is time for them to be given an opportunity. I wish the coaching staff and the players all the very best for the future.'

Since making his debut for South Africa in 2002, Pienaar has won 57 caps for his country scoring twice.

Personally I think it's a shame, I know our interests are with Everton, but I like to see a player proud to represent his country as that's how I would like to see all of the players who pull on an England shirt!

But whilst early retirement from international football is seen as a fashionable thing to do these days, for Pienaar the idea does actually have some merit. There's an awful lot of travelling involved in representing South Africa on one day and entertaining Evertonians a few days later and the physical aspect that he mentions will become more of a problem with age. So it's probably a wise choice.

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