Business Day

Bafana: Da Gama plans strong line-up

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Bafana will field another strong starting line-up in their friendly against Angola in East London on Tuesday, but also try to give each player in their squad a run, said caretaker-coach Owen da Gama.

Bafana Bafana will field another strong starting line-up in their friendly against Angola in East London on Tuesday, but also try to give each player in their squad a run, said caretaker-coach Owen da Gama.

SA cruised past 80th-ranked Guinea-Bissau with a 3-1 win at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday in the first of two friendlies aimed as preparatio­n for away and home World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde Islands on August 28 and September 2.

There were impressive returns to the team after the extended self-enforced absences for Kamohelo Mokotjo and Kermit Erasmus.

Percy Tau made his first appearance for the senior team as a substitute — following his first two games for a fringe side that were eliminated by Angola in African Nations Championsh­ip (Chan) qualifiers in 2015 — and banged in a world-class strike within three minutes of his introducti­on.

Da Gama has indicated the two teenagers in his squad — Phakamani Mahlambi and Luther Singh, who did not feature against Guinea-Bissau — will get a run against Angola.

The coach said Bafana needed to keep a core of their strongest line-up at Buffalo City Stadium. “The first thing we will do is get word from the medical doctor [Thulani Ngwenya] as to the players’ injury status,” Da Gama said.

“But the whole idea is to give everybody a run, without really coming up with something totally new. There’s got to be some foundation to keep the team structure.

“That’s why you could see [against Guinea-Bissau] there was a mixture of the old team and something new. And it’s got to be that mixture again.

“I learnt this with the game against Mozambique. We put in 11 players who had never played together, and in the first half, it was a shambles — they couldn’t string one pass together.

“So you need some structure in the team and give other

players a chance,” he said. Da Gama served as caretaker — fielding fringe players — in a 1-1 friendly draw against Mozambique in Maputo in November. That game followed four days after SA’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying win against Senegal in Polokwane, after which head coach Shakes Mashaba was suspended for disciplina­ry reasons. Mashaba was fired in December.

Da Gama’s starting line-up against Guinea-Bissau showed six changes from the team fielded against Senegal. Da Gama’s squad for these two friendlies was roundly praised for having brought Mokotjo and Erasmus in from the cold, and the inclusion of young blood in Tau, Mahlambi, Singh and Lorenzo Gordinho.

Montepelli­er forward Keagan Dolly, the man-of-the-match on Saturday for a contributi­on characteri­sed by laying on some defence-splitting passes, said he had been excited to see Da Gama’s squad.

“I’m glad we scored three goals. We missed a lot of opportunit­ies. But I think with the way we played, we enjoyed ourselves,” the ex-Mamelodi Sundowns star said.

“When the squad was announced, I got excited just to see the names, and seeing the youngsters like Phakamani Mahlambi, Luther Singh and Percy Tau.

“And I’m just happy for Percy Tau that he got to score on his debut. I think that our future in South African football is bright.”

 ?? /Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images ?? Super-sub: Percy Tau celebrated his Bafana debut with a stunning goal against Guinea-Bissau.
/Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images Super-sub: Percy Tau celebrated his Bafana debut with a stunning goal against Guinea-Bissau.

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