Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos will line up a different team than the one he fielded for the Guinea match. The South African team take on World Champions France in an international friendly on Tuesday evening.
The two sides will meet at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille.
France secured victory against Ivory Coast on Friday, while Bafana held Guinea to a nil-all draw.
Broos will look to balance his squad for the big test that he will use to measure his players for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers later this month.
Bafana Bafana go into the international friendly against France prepared to face a strong line-up.
French coach Didier Deschamp has assured the South Africans that they will come up against some of the high-profile names in the world.
While the odds are firmly against Broos’ charges, Bafana Bafana are known to put up a strong performance against tough sides.
The players are confident they can hold their own against Le Bleus.
South Africa has won their last three matches against nations ranked in Fifa’s top ten.
Bafana Bafana Captain Ronwen Williams says: “We focus on the whole team because they are a very strong team, we will just go out and believe in our qualities as a team. I mean if we stick to the game plan to the structure everything should be fine for us.”
Broos believes the opposition in the two friendlies was well balanced.
They were able to match their African counterparts in the first outing, while they will gain valuable experience against the third best-ranked team in the world as they wrap up the Fifa international week.
Broos says: “It would have been good experience for us to have played against such two teams, one stronger than the other and we learn a lot and it’s what this young team needs and those experiences to play against tough teams.”
Broos is expected to name a strong line-up against the World Champions.
After the friendly tonight, the Belgium mentor would have achieved his objective of ensuring that almost all players received game time.
The coach will use most players that did not feature in the Guinea match last Friday.
Although the coach was satisfied with the overall performance from the match, he is expecting the new faces to work on some of the issues he raised including converting scoring chances.
“The only negative side of it was that we didn’t score. I think we had six or seven good chances and that’s also the problem in our team, we don’t score easy and it’s something we need to work on.”
About 50 000 fans are expected to attend the match. It will be another good experience for most of the players in the Bafana Bafana set up to play in front of a big crowd.
