Serbia will prove a tough test for Bafana Bafana.
That was the opinion of Kaizer Chiefs’ new Serbian born coach Vladimir Vermezovic, when asked if a watered down Serbia would be good enough to beat Bafana when the teams meet at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Wednesday night.
Said Vermezovic: ”I know a number of players such as Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic are injured and coach Radomir Antic, will be bringing a few younger players to gain experience at international level.
”But no matter who plays, Serbians do not like losing. They will be coming here to win.”
Serbia, who are ranked 14th in the world, have not brought all their top guns to play Bafana, but still look formidable. Antic has drafted in three uncapped local based players in goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic and midfielders Radosav Petrov and Marko Milikovic.
Antic has left out his skipper, Dejan Stankovic of Inter Milan, plus his two wingers, Bosko Tankovic and Mitahem Suljemani.
Vermezovic, who played and coached top Serbian club Partizan Belgrade, also played for Yugoslavia before the Balkan nation was broken up by civil war in the 1990s and new countries such as Serbia emerged from the destruction.
They head their World Cup qualifying group ahead of former world champions France on 18 points from seven matches and look certain to qualify for the 2010 World cup in South African next June.
They are eight points clear of second placed France who have two matches in hand.
Although the Serbian players are not household names, except for Vidic, their national team players compete in Europe’s top leagues in England, Germany and Italy.
Bafana will have head coach Joel Santana back to take charge after the Brazilian was laid low in his home country last week suffering from a bad bout of pneumonia and bronchitis and doctors refused to let him travel out of Brazil.
But he was cleared to travel on Monday night and will arrived in Pretoria on Tuesday and will resume control for the match which will be Bafana’s first since they finished fourth in the Confederations Cup in June.
This is not expected to be a classic encounter. Most players in Europe and South Africa are either in preseason or at the start of their various leagues, such as the PSL which kicked-off at the weekend.
But assistant coach Jairo Leal stressed: ”This is an important part of Bafana’s build up for the 2010 showpiece. We need as many competitive matches as possible before June next year to prepare the side.
”We have done our homework and have analysed a number of Serbia’s World Cup qualifying matches and they will prove tough opponents. But they are the sort of opposition we need to keep our players sharp and prepared.”
But Santana’s presence will be mainly symbolical with Leal and Santana’s other assistant coach Pitso Mosimane running the show.
The two assistants have selected the squad and with Santana being ill, he will not have much influence on the selection.
The biggest question on Bafana fans’ lips is whether the PSL’s leading goal scorer last season, Richard Henyekane, will finally get his cap.
After scoring 19 goals last season, the Golden Arrows striker was controversially ignored by Santana for the Confederations Cup.
With Dutch based Bernard Parker injured and Terror Fanteni dropped from the Confederations Cup squad, this is Henyekane’s chance.
All the players are in camp except for keeper Rowen Fernandez who was needed by his German club Arminia Bielefeld for a match on Monday night and he will only arrive in Pretoria on Wednesday. Unless the Bafana brains trust intends to give him some game time, it seems a complete waste of time and money flying him in from Germany to warm the bench.
The undisputed number one keeper is Chiefs’ rising star, Itumeleng Khune, who had a superb Confederations Cup. But Fernandez has not played for Bafana since last June and needs game time.
Pirates star left back Lucas Thwala, who missed the Confederations Cup through injury should start, so should Chiefs winger Abia Nale and new SuperSport United midfielder Siyabonga Nkosi, who with Henyekane are the only changes from the Confederations Cup squad. — Sapa