If South African soccer coach Stuart Baxter expected a transformation in old habits, with all 20 players assembling en masse at the squad’s training camp in Durban on Monday prior to the critical African Nations Cup qualifying decider against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it was a case of Bafana Bafana’s leopards simply not changing their spots.
General manager Stanley ”Screamer” Tshabalala, however, declared the initial convoy of 12 players, who included the European-based Shaun Bartlett, Nasief Morris and captain Aaron Mokoena, as ”quite satisfactory under the circumstances”.
”We have monitored the movements of all the players,” added Tshabalala, ”and a number of them have been delayed because of club commitments over the weekend. Others have to transfer their flights and the expectation to have everyone in the camp by Wednesday is still on course.”
Mokoena, meanwhile, was released from duty almost before he had arrived because of a family bereavement — and was due to return to Durban from Gauteng on Tuesday.
The remaining 11 players began preparatory training at the King’s Park Stadium, but Baxter’s desire to gauge whether one or two of the newcomers are geared for the testing encounter on Saturday, as well as experimenting with compatible formations, was basically placed on ice — although that might not be the appropriate term in view of the sweltering conditions.
Reassurance, however, emerged in the presence of top South African scorer and most-capped player Shaun Bartlett, whose match conditioning has been open to question following a spate of injuries.
”Shaun came on as a substitute for Charlton in their English Premiership defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and showed no ill effects of his injuries,” said Tshabalala.
Bartlett is almost certain to gain his 75th South African cap against the DRC, which would place him two ahead of John ”Shoes” Moshoeu, with Bafana hoping he will increase his international goal tally of 29 in the process. — Sapa