There are a lot of winners here, new call-up Timm says of Bafana squad

Bafana Bafana have a lot of winners in their squad and want to transfer that to performances on the international stage, new call-up Miguel Timm said as the team prepared for Thursday night’s friendly against Mozambique at Mbombela Stadium.

There seems a good enough reason for tough Orlando Pirates midfielder Timm, when he looks around at the players at training in the national team, to get the feeling he is surrounded by winners.

Other new call-ups include his club teammate Monnapule Saleng, who has been in red-hot scoring form, including a stunning free-kick against AmaZulu that saw Pirates lift the MTN8 trophy a fortnight ago.

Timm was man-of-the-match in the final at Moses Mabhida Stadium. Striker Zakhele Lepasa is another talented emerging player who will take part in the match at Mbombela Stadium.

Casting his eye around the Bafana training ground, Timm would also have noticed plenty of stars from trophy machine Sundowns in Hugo Broos’s relatively young squad. These include Rushine de Reuck, Teboho Mokoena and the more experienced Ronwen Williams, Thapelo Morena and Themba Zwane.

Broos for some time inexplicably resisted building his squad around The Brazilians, SA’s strongest representative at a consistent level in continental club football.

The Belgian is using the two games in Mbombela during the Fifa break for the World Cup in Qatar against Mozambique on Thursday (8.30pm) and Angola on Sunday (3pm) as build-up for the Africa Cup of Nations Cup qualifiers against Liberia in March.

The opportunity presented by Zimbabwe’s expulsion by Fifa can see Bafana through to Ivory Coast 2023 with four points home and away against Liberia, which would allow for international exposure for emerging stars such as Saleng in Broos’s Bafana set-up.

It is also those up-and-coming stars from the squads of Pirates, and especially Sundowns, that can bring a much-needed winning mentality to Bafana.

“I’m obviously excited to be part of the group for the first time. I’m here to enjoy the moment and, if I get the opportunity, will try my best to grab it with both hands,” Timm said.

“There’s a big pool of players to select from. I’m happy to have made the cut. I’m here to play whatever role is required of me, whether it’s to support from the bench or on the pitch.

“I know none of us have come to the camp to mess around. I think there are a lot of winners here and we’ve come to win these two games before we have the break [for the World Cup].

“Like the coach and captain said, there’s a bigger picture here for March. And we have to keep that in the back of our minds. So we’ll have a full go this week and try to build the foundation looking forward to March,” he said.

Broos’s squad was hit by the withdrawals of Portugal-based defender Thibang Phete, Belgium-based forward Lyle Foster and Cape Town City forward Mihlali Mayambela. City’s big centre-back Taariq Fielies and Minnesota FC forward Bongokuhle  Hlongwane made for worthy replacements.

Bafana are ranked 67th in the world and Mozambique 114th.