JOHANNESBURG - Nunes  is Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund’s latest find for the national team and is a virtual unknown in local football circles.

Igesund at his first camp as a Bafana coach last month brought uncapped English-based  Dean Furman into the team and the Slovakian-based Nunes is likely to follow in Furman’s footsteps and earn his first cap.

Nunes, a left-back, who plays in Slovakia’s Super Liga for MSK Cilina, has held the curiosity of the local football community, given his anonymity.

The 26-year-old Johannesburg-born player who left the country as an eight-year-old, said he will grab  the opportunity of representing South Africa.

“I cannot describe the feeling,” he said during a telephone interview yesterday.

“I am looking forward to playing for Bafana Bafana and I will not disappoint. That I am sure of.”

While this is  Nunes’ first senior call-up, he is no stranger to the international stage.

“I have played for the junior national teams of Portugal so I am not that new to it,” he said.

Many players have played for the national team in the past as unknowns, only to falter and fail to keep their place in the team.

But Nunes, who has won the league and cup in the central European state, said his maiden call-up for the Poland and Kenya friendlies  next week  will not be his last.

 Bafana play the White Eagles in Warsaw on October 12 and Kenya four days later.

Nunes added that he was determined to make the left-back position his own against his competitors, Kgosi Nthle, Tsepo Masilela and Punch Masenamela.

“I am not here just to add numbers but I am here to compete and do my best to book a place in the squad to play   in the Africa Cup of Nations,” Nunes said.

As the entire globe shifted its attention to the country for the 2010 World Cup, Nunes developed a desire to one day don the national team jersey.

At the time, he said  he longed for a call from then coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

“I was watching the tournament and felt I could be part of it but it was not to be. But from then, I had this ambition to play for the team,” he said.