OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 3.25pm.
BAFANA Bafana have won a number of skirmishes with European clubs over the past few days to enable them to field as strong a team as possible for their friendly against Sweden on Saturday.
Officials insisted on calling up the majority of their European-based players for the Nelson Mandela Inauguration Challenge game at Loftus despite the fact that many have key club commitments this weekend.
”We have been very accomodating in our last couple of matches but we need all our best players for this one,” said coach Trott Moloto on Thursday.
Captain Lucas Radebe of English premier league front runners Leeds United plays for his national side for first time for six months after protracted negotiations with Leeds manager David O’Leary.
Radebe had been left out of South Africa’s previous four matches but Moloto insisted the central defender make himself available for Saturday’s game in Pretoria because it is the last chance the team will be together before their opening Nations’ Cup finals match in Ghana in January.
Also called up are Marseille defender Pierre Issa and John Moshoeu of Turkish club Fenerbahce.
There is also a return to the team for Bari striker Phil Masinga who had previously refused to play for the national team in home matches after several incidents of crowd abuse.
The Italian-based forward had to be persuaded by former president Nelson Mandela to make himself available for Saturday’s match.
Sweden, who qualified for next year’s European championship finals as winners of their group, named a weakened squad for the match with 15-home based players and three from neighbouring Norway.
They arrived in South Africa on Tuesday. — Reuters