Reading Time: 3 minutesThe coronavirus pandemic has starved people of football across the globe. The
Premier Soccer League (PSL) managed to finish the 2019-2020 season in a bio-bubble environment. However, now it’s the turn of the senior national team,
Bafana Bafana, to show what they are made of.
Bafana Bafana are in camp in Phokeng, outside Rustenburg, preparing to face Namibia and Zambia, respectively, in international friendly matches this week.
Coach Molefi Ntseki assembled a squad of 25 players, but he was forced to make two changes. He replaced Sipho Mbule of Supersport United with AmaZulu sensation, Sinethemba Sithebe, while Belgium based Kurt Abrahams has been replaced by Olympian, Lyle Foster.
“The two withdrawals is Kurt Abrahams from Belgium. Because of the COVID-19 regulations, we couldn’t get him into the country. Sipho Mbule reported for camp for assessment by our medical team and then he was sent back home. We replaced him with Sithebe of Amazulu. If one player gets injured, it gives an opportunity for another player and in this case it gave an opportunity to Sinethemba Sithebe of Amazulu,” says Ntseki.
The training session scheduled for Monday was called off due to the unexpected and continuous heavy showers. However, that does not appear to have deterred the players.
The two upcoming matches will be at the 2010 World Cup venue in the North West, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. Amazingly, the venue is in a very good shape considering that it hasn’t been utilised in two years.
It used to be the home ground of the now-defunct Platinum Stars.
MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation in the North West province, Virginia Tlhapi, is pleased that the national team will be playing in their province.
“We are going to have more of these partnerships in the province and we are intending, as government, to have more games. The intention is to expose what we have. We are showing the country that we still have facilities even if they are not many, but we want to show people that the Royal Bafokeng Stadium is still one of a kind.”
Bafana Bafana will use the two matches as part of preparations for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
South Africa will play Sao Tome and Principe on the 12th of November at the FNB Stadium and travel for the return match four days later on Monday, the 16th November. Next will be Ghana in the qualifiers.
Ntseki says, “It’s a six-pointer. (A) very important match for us because if we get the six points we will have one foot into Afcon. For those who don’t know Sao Tome, they have most of their players in Portugal. One mission is to win both matches and qualify for Afcon. Since the departure of Platinum Stars, the people of North West have been starving of football.”
Kurt Abrahams remains in Belgium and cannot join the team due to the new COVID-19 regulations on traveling. Two other European -based players, Percy Tau and Lyle Foster, joined the camp on Wednesday morning.
