South Africa soccer coach Ephraim ‘Shakes†Mashaba has only two months to finalise the list of 22 players who hope to restore South Africa as the best team in the African Nations Cup, to be played in January in Tunisia.
The task is compounded by the unavailability of players and few preparation matches. Mashaba has so far had only two matches in which to assess the players before choosing his final 22.
He has three preparation matches lined up for the Nations Cup (Costa Rica, Tunisia and Mauritius) after the South African Football Association (Safa) decided to send a mediocre squad to defend the Cosafa Cup, which finally went to Zimbabwe last weekend.
This Saturday Costa Rica, one of the best teams in central America, are bringing a quality side to challenge for the Nelson Mandela Cup, which South Africa has won three times, lost three times and drawn twice.
The Central American team is an unknown entity to many South African soccer lovers, but Mashaba said: ‘[Bafana Bafana] asked to play Costa Rica because of their rankings at number 19 in the world and their good tactical acumen.â€
He said the preparation matches that will be played are phase two of his plans, which now see the initial 39 players chosen and given a chance to prove their worth before the final 22 are selected in December.
The players who stand a better chance of making it to the final 22 are those who participated in the qualifying rounds of the Cosafa Cup, those who won it and those who helped the team reach Tunisia.
John Moshoeu, who was picked for the games against Lesotho and Costa Rica, said: ‘We need … to find the cream of the crop for Tunisia … we just need to get the right team to gel well.â€