Mahlangu
and Rantie will be playing for their clubs on Saturday, 1 June, while Xulu is a
late call-up who replaced the injured Siboniso Gaxa. The trio is expected in
South Africa on Monday, 3 June, in time to travel to Cameroon with the national
team.
The
three players were notable absentees at Bafana Bafana’s first training session
held at the Germiston Stadium on Thursday, 30 June. Twenty one (21) players
reported for national team duty including overseas-based defender Anele
Ngcongca, midfielder Dean Furman and defender Ricardo Nunes.
South
Africa travels to Yaoundé, Cameroon on Tuesday, 4 June to play the first of two
Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. In the first match Bafana Bafana face
the Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday, 8 June. The second clash will
be against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa a week later on Sunday, 16 June at the
National Stadium.
Bafana
Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund is not perturbed that the players could be
fatigued after a long and gruelling season.
“The
players are a little bit tired but that can be expected at the end of a long
season. So we have devised a training programme that will ensure that we don’t
burn them out but have them ready for the two crucial matches against CAR and
Ethiopia. That’s the situation and we can’t change that but I am positive they
will be on top of their game by the time we face CAR. We can’t look for excuses
as the players around the world have been playing just as many games,” said
Igesund.
At
the first training session, the Bafana Bafana mentor was working on possible
combinations following a spate of injuries that have rocked the national team.
Kagisho Dikgacoi (who has not been replaced), Siboniso Gaxa and Tsepo Masilela
(replaced by Nunes) all withdrew from the squad before the start of the camp.
“Injuries
happen all the time in football and I am not one to complain about injured
players. So we are working on combinations especially in defence where the
players haven’t really played together in the national team. Of course we want
to win the match against Lesotho but the most important thing is to get the
combinations right and take the confidence to the matches against CAR and
Ethiopia.
“Nthete
and Mathoho have played together at Bloemfontein Celtic and Mathoho and
Mashamaite play together at Chiefs – but that doesn’t mean we should go that
route, we cannot afford guess work in that department. We have to make sure we
get it right. The truth is whatever combination we use might or might not work
against Lesotho, but we must get it right for the CAR and Ethiopia matches,”
added Igesund.
“I
believe we have players that are capable of holding their own in the national
team, it’s just a matter of getting those combinations right. But yes it is
trying times for us, and the guys will have put up their hands and given us a
good showing.”
Bafana
Bafana leave for Lesotho on Friday, 31 May after their training session in the
morning.
They
will be minus the eight Kaizer Chiefs players in the squad as they will be
attending their season-end club awards which will take place on Friday night
(31 May).
“It
is important for the players to be at the prize giving. They have worked hard
all season and deserve to be recognised by their club and sponsors. I want the
players to be there and they also want to be there. After a meeting I held with
their club we decided this was the best solution. The players will join us in
Lesotho on Saturday morning (1 June), so they won’t miss any training session
as we are only training in the afternoon,” concluded the Bafana Bafana
coach.
- SAFA
