Clearly those who hailed the African Nations Cup draw as a godsend for Bafana Bafana when it was made in Cairo in November 2005 were barking up the wrong tree — and South Africa can expect three testing opening-round matches.
Tunisia named a 23-man squad that includes 18 players currently performing in top European Leagues -‒ among them the Ajax Amsterdam fullback, Hatem Trabelsi, and Toulouse’s Brazilian-born striker, Silva dos Santos.
Zambia announced a revised squad that numbers eight players performing in the PSL, who include such formidable adversaries as Jomo Cosmos striker Chris Katongo and Orlando Pirates midfielder Isaac Chansa.
In addition, the Zambians have on call the Portsmouth-based striker Collins Mbesuma, who proved the bogeyman for the South African defence when he played for Kaizer Chiefs in the past two years — as well as French-based Rainford Kalaba (Nice), the former Manning Rangers star, Linos Chalwe, and France-based Jacob Mulenga (Chateauroux).
And Guinea, whom Bafana face in their opening fixture on January 22, have beaten World Cup qualifiers Togo 1-0 in a friendly fixture in Paris.
Guinea, in addition, fielded a weakened line-up at the Viry-Chatillon Stadium that did not include key players Pascal Feinduono, Fode Mansare, Sambegou Bangoura and captain Dianbobo Balde from Glasgow Celtic.
Meanwhile, coach Ted Dumitru’s ”new look” Bafana squad resumed training in Johannesburg on Tuesday before their departure for Egypt on Thursday, where they will face the host nation in a friendly international at Cairo’s International Stadium on Saturday. – Sapa