Golden Arrows striker Richard Henyekane, finally got his long awaited Bafana Bafana call up when he was named in the 23-man squad to play Serbia at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium next Wednesday.
Henyekane was controversially left out of Bafana head coach Joel Santana’s Confederation Cup squad in June, despite finishing as the Premier Soccer League’s top goal scorer at the end of the season.
Santana was a notable absentee at Thursday’s squad announcement. The Brazilian coach is laid low with Pneumonia and bronchitis in his home country and is not allowed to travel.
Explained SA Football Association CEO Raymond Hack: ”Santana has a bad bout of pneumonia and his doctors prevented him from travelling back to Johannesburg.
”We are hoping he will be here on Tuesday. In the meantime his two assistant coaches, Pitso Mosimane and Jairo Leal, are in charge.”
The technical team made four changes from the squad that was selected for the Confederations Cup and Henyekane is the only uncapped player in the 23-man squad.
The other three changes are the return of Orlando Pirates classy left back Lucas Thwala, Kaizer Chiefs winger Abia Nale and New SuperSport United midfielder, Siyabonga Nkosi.
The four players left out are FC Twente striker and the star of the Confederations Cup, Bernard Parker, who picked up an injury with his new Dutch club, Pirates defender Innocent Mdledle and his new Bucs teammate, Terror Fanteni, plus injured Amakhosi star Siphiwe Tshabalala.
But the loss of Parker was a major concern to Leal who said: ”We are still waiting for a doctor’s report.
”Parker was in the squad but we had to take him out when we were informed of his injury. We are not sure at this stage what the injury is.”
Leal added that striker Fanteni, who had a disappointing Confederations Cup, had made the right move by going on loan from Maccabi Haifa in Israel to Pirates. ”We will be able to monitor him more closely. The door is not closed on any player to make the 2010 World Cup squad.”
Henyekane is expected to make his debut against the 14th world ranked Serbia, who also head their World Cup qualifying group.
They look certain to be playing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next June.
Leal said they have managed to get hold of DVDS of Serbia’s recent World Cup qualifiers and would be studying them.
”It will be a tough game as most of our players are getting back into pre-season training and with the PSL just starting, a lot of players are not match fit.
”But we badly need to get as many friendly games under our belts as possible to build up the squad for 2010.”
German-based goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez, will be playing for his club in the Bundas Liga on Monday and will only arrive in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Hack announced Bafana would have a full programme until next March. — Sapa
Bafana schedule:
September 5 vs Germany (away); September 8 vs Ireland (away); September 19 PSL squad vs Angola (Kimberley); October 10 vs Norway (away); October 13 vs Iceland (away); November 14 vs Japan (Durban); November 17 vs Jamaica Bloemfontein); March 10 vs Chile (away); March 17 vs Jamaica (away).