Bafana short several players in warm-up ahead of Guinea friendly
Bafana Bafana kicked off their training in France ahead of two friendly matches in Europe missing several players, but coach Hugo Broos is confident he will have a full squad before the first game on Friday.
Bafana will play Guinea on Friday in Kortrijk, Belgium (kickoff 7pm in SA) before returning to France to meet the star-studded world champions France on Tuesday.
Broos will use the matches to prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers starting in June.
SA began their training in Europe on Tuesday without Bandile Shandu and Goodman Mosele, who arrived after the session having travelled from Algeria where they played in Orlando Pirates’ 2-0 Caf Confederation Cup win against JS Saoura on Sunday night.
Broos said ahead of Wednesday’s training that five more players — defenders Athenkosi Mcaba (Stellenbosch FC) and Terrence Mashego (Cape Town City), striker Fagrie Lakay (Pyramids FC, Egypt), Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Minnesota FC) and Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM) — are still to join the camp after having visa issues. They were expected to arrive on Thursday and would be available for the Guinea game.
Though Broos said he was uncomfortable about not having the full complement, he was consoled that almost all the players likely to play against Guinea trained with the team on Tuesday.
“Tomorrow [Thursday] morning everybody has to be here,” Broos said on Wednesday from Lille. “It’s a problem of visas and it’s a bit unfortunate that every player has to present themselves at the embassy. We were also unlucky that on Monday it was a holiday in SA and people were not working.
“But it’s not really a problem because, as I said already, I like to give every player a chance to play. So those who will play on Friday are here except for a few,” the coach said.
While Broos has said he would prefer quality performances over results in the two games, the happiness and motivation the coach has seen from the Bafana players has given him great confidence.
“Our [15 hours] trip was a night flight but I was very happy with the training I saw yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon. I have to be optimistic and the guys are happy to be here and they are ready to play those two games,” the coach said.
“It’s two different games of different levels, but I’m confident. I think France is certainly the motivation for the players.
“You don’t have a chance to play the world champions every day and I think there will be great interest in that game. Yesterday, I heard from people who are from here [France] that it will be a full stadium.
“It will be a fantastic atmosphere, there’s a lot of interest from the French side and also from the other sides because the world champions are playing.”
In the world rankings France are third, SA 68th and Guinea 81st.