Bafana Bafana have officially begun preparations for their upcoming international friendly against Zambia, set for Saturday afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha. The national team held their first training session on Monday afternoon at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.
This encounter forms part of Bafana’s preparations for the TotalEnergies AFCON, which kicks off on 21 December in Morocco. South Africa have been drawn in Group B alongside Zimbabwe, Angola, and Egypt. They will open their campaign against Angola on 22 December, face Egypt on 26 December, and conclude the group stage with a Southern African derby against Zimbabwe on 29 December.
Among the squad are fresh faces of Masindi Ṋemuṱanzhela and Keletso Makgalwa, who are both earning their first senior national team selections.
Ṋemuṱanzhela, who has been outstanding in the Betway Premiership this season, described his call-up as a career milestone.
“My journey wasn’t easy, I went from playing in the Mahlobo (Kasi) games on a gravel field and everything happened very fast.
I found myself playing in the NFD (Motsepe Foundation Championship) , the following season I’m playing in the PSL (Betway Premiership) then the second season (Orlando) Pirates signs me.
Then after some months, after 6 games (for Orlando Pirates), my name (gets) called to (the) national team.
I’m really grateful, it shows shows that the hard work I put in, is getting me noticed. ” – Masindi Ṋemuṱanzhela on his journey
📸 Mazilitha
Makgalwa expressed his gratitude for finally getting his senior national team call-up, but also hinted that injuries affected his player growth.
“Firstly, I’d like to thank the coach for the opportunity gave me to be part of this amazing group.
I think I started very well as a young boy from Sundowns academy and I played (the) U20 World Cup,Then I also played U23 AFCON that qualified for Olympics…
..I think it was a great journey and you know, sometimes there’s injuries in football. So that’s why I struggled with so many injuries that time when I was at sundowns, especially after winning the treble…
… I think everything was going very well, there were just too many setbacks after that.
…I think I had a great journey to be honest. It’s just the injuries that was holding me back” – Said Makgalwa
📸 Mazilitha
Coach Hugo Broos spoke about the importance of winning on Friday, AFCON group dynamics, U23 national team and the new faces in the Bafana Bafana camp.
“We want to win the game on Saturday, even if it’s an international friendly., it’s important to maintain our top 10 ranking and even move to ninth..
…We have team in our group, Angola, that is a quite different type of tactic than normal other African teams so we have to be prepared for it. We can’t only focus on one way of playing..
…It’s important that we set up an U23 national team as soon as possible, to also fastrack the development of players who are coming from the U20 World Cup” – Coach Hugo Broos
On Ṋemuṱanzhela & Makgalwa, Broos said “We have to watch them now and then see how good they are, and if there is a level we want for the future, okay, we will see”
Bafana will continue training in Johannesburg for the next days before traveling to Gqeberha later in the week. A final practice session is scheduled at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium ahead of Friday’s 15:00 kickoff.
The clash against Chipolopolo is expected to draw strong local support as Bafana Bafana fine-tune their preparations for what promises to be a thrilling AFCON campaign in Morocco.