OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 9.00am.
AMAGLUG-Glug coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba is “in a state of shock” after being forced to name a depleted 21-man squad for the March 12 Olympic Qualifier after last week’s shock SA Football Association order that nay player who has turned out for Bafana Bafana is not eligible for the national under-23 side.
“I simply cannot understand the timing of the announcement. We’re close to qualification for the Olympic Games and now I’m told I cannot field my strongest team,” Mashaba told the Star.
Mashaba announced a squad minus Benedict McCarthy, Quinton Fortune, Aaron Mokoena, Siyabonga Nomvete and other Bafana regulars after the team returned from Youande where they were defeated 2-0 by Cameroon on Saturday.
Mashaba said that the team will now have to start from scratch and that Safa’s decision “siply makes no sense.”
The Amaglug-glug will have to beat Ghana at Vosloorus, Guinea in an away match and hope that group leaders Cameroon lose to Ghana next weekend if they want to qualify at the top of Group B.
Safa vice-president Reuben Mahlalela, who attended a press conference as “acting Safa president” was unable to answer questions surrounding the selection criterium to the satisfaction of all present, but said that allegations of sabotage by Safa are “nonsense.”
Safa boss Raymond Hack and Mashaba have had a number of fall-outs, some of them public, and Safa will have to find some strong answers to the problems facing the Amaglug-glug.
Most Safa officials are away in France for this week’s soccer expo, and Mahlalela’s promise of a meeting with Mashaba to take the situation into review is not encouraging.
Mashaba’s problem is that he has already named his squad, and cannot change it at this stage, but he said that he would attend the meeting with Safa to find a solution.
Seven changes have been made to the side that lost in Cameroon, the new men in are: Musa Mntakwende, Dillon Sheppard, Sibusiso Mazibuko, Sam Magalefa, Lebohang Kukane, Bradley August and Hareaipha Marumo.