SOCCER: Lungile Madywabe
ONLY two of the 11 foreign-based South African internationals will be available for selection when the locals take on Mozambique in a friendly at the FNB stadium on Saturday.
Doctor Khumalo of Ferrocarril Oeste in Argentina and Augustine Makalakalane, who plays for first division FC Zurich in Switzerland, are the only two released by their teams to play tomorrow. Fifa rules state that teams are obliged to release players for seven official games and the team can decide whether to release players for friendlies.
Despite the unavailability of the foreign players national coach Clive Barker sounded confident that South Africa would win. “I have got a full, fit squad, and the guys know that if they want to be part of the team for the African Nations Cup next year they have got to work hard.”
However he feels that the Mozambique team, coming from a war-torn area and having qualified for the Nations Cup, cannot be taken lightly. “As usual we will play attacking football, and I have spoken to the guys about being complacent. One has got to respect Mozambique considering the adverse conditions they come from,” he
Commenting on the performance of Sundowns goalkeeper Roger De Sa last weekend against Kaizer Chiefs in the BoB Save Super Bowl, in which he let in three goals, he said “Everyone has their bad days, and I will assess my goalkeepers as the week wears out.”
He is mum about naming his squad for the game, saying “On Saturday I will have had a fair chance of looking at all the players and I will name my squad then.” He has a squad of 23 players from which to choose his