Khune broke down
On the difficulty of selecting his squad
I think because of COVID-19, it has always been difficult. We are talking about national team selection and obviously you have players coming from different backgrounds and philosophies. So, that on its own is a very big challenge. Selecting a Bafana Bafana squad will always be difficult because you are talking about top-quality players in the country and if you select one and leave the other behind, there will always be the question of, ‘Why this one and not that one?’ So that’s the difficult part. Thirdly, you look at your opponents and analyse them. And in analysing them, that’s when you will be advised on what type of players to select and what type of formation to play, because the formation is dependent mainly on the type of players you bring. You play a certain formation because you have players who fit into that formation. There’s also the importance of the match. If you look at our situation, it is very important for us to play for results in the two matches (against Ghana and Sudan). It’s multi-dimensional in terms of the requirements. And because of time, playing back-toback, there’s no time to necessarily introduce or do an induction of new players. You have a day-and-a-half to prepare for Ghana and then a halfday to prepare for and play Sudan.
On where the dilemma is
With new faces, it means you need to have time to do proper introduction into Bafana Bafana and a proper induction into the team. So, these are the things you look at. Because when we talk of players who are not playing overseas, the analysis we have done of such players is this: These are experienced Bafana Bafana players. Secondly, they are playing in the top leagues. And thirdly, they are always on the bench if they are not playing. It’s not like they are left out of the matchday squad. Mentally, they are part of the team. Tactically, they are part of the team. Physically, they are part of the team. These are the most important aspects of the game that you need from each of the players. When it comes to game-time, it becomes a bit of a challenge because they are not played regularly. But if they are part of the team all the time and mentally they are part of the team all the time and tactically they are part of the team all the time, then it’s good. You need the physical readiness and the mental readiness to perform. Tactically, they are ready to perform. Because of the time to prepare the team, you need players who have been here before, who understand how things are done, who understand the pressure of playing in games like this, against Ghana and Sudan. The most important thing is where have you been before when it comes to Bafana Bafana. I’ll make an example of Percy Tau. He moved from Anderlecht to Brighton and, on arrival, he did well in the games he played. But because of competition in the team, we see Percy being on the bench all the time. Are we saying that those who are not playing regularly overseas should not be selected and then we select players who are played regularly in our local league, but have never been to Bafana Bafana and don’t understand adverse football conditions?
On Khune’s mental state after family tragedy
I think we are all worried. I spoke to him last week about his situation and, as he was relating the story, he broke down because of the experience of losing his sister the way in which he lost her. We are saying condolences to Itumeleng Khune and his entire family on losing their beloved sister. Khune has been around, he has seen it all. As painful as it is, we will see after the funeral what state of mind he will be in. His club (Kaizer Chiefs) and SAFA, because of his situation, will be helping him and give him a call and talk to him. As much as people are questioning the selection of Khune – and I have tried to explain the reasoning behind it – it’s just an unfortunate situation. And unfortunately for him, this has now happened to him and his family. He is a veteran of the game, but losing somebody has also got its own challenges and emotional pain that you go through. We are hopeful that he will handle it like a man and that he will be joining us. If he is not okay, because of the loss, then we will always look into Plan B of bringing in another player in his place.
On bringing in new faces
Ben Motshwari is one of the new faces in the team, but he was part of the team when we were preparing for AFCON, but he did not make it to Egypt. But he was with us the whole time when we were preparing for AFCON with coach Stuart Baxter. Craig Martin has been doing well and he has been a consistent performer for Cape Town City, at right wing, right wingback or at right back. He has the heart, the talent and physical requirements of the position he is playing in. Because we have Thapelo Morena, who has the same qualities of Martin, we are going for like-for-like, but the other one (Morena) is more experienced. We’ve also got cover at right back in Thulani Hlatshwayo, Thibang Phete and Siyanda Xulu. We are fully covered on that side. Veli Mothwa has been doing well. He was a consistent performer at Chippa United, but that time we had Ricardo Goss and Brandon Petersen, who were also doing well. So, those two were coming in ahead of him, so he could not get a chance. But now that Ricardo has not played regularly and now that Brandon and Darren Keet are not attached, we followed up on every goalkeeper in the country and Veli was identified as the only goalkeeper who has been very consistent with AmaZulu FC.
Molefi Ntseki, Bafana Bafana head coach