Bafana friendly set for Zim

THE South African Football Association (Safa) will reveal Bafana Bafana’s programme of friendly matches for the coming months this morning‚ and one of those will be against Zimbabwe later this month, according to reports.

The fixture is scheduled for Harare on March 25 and will be the first meeting between the two nations in five years.

It will be the first opportunity for Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter to bring his national squad together since their failed attempt to reach the Fifa World Cup in November‚ when they lost home and away matches against Senegal.

The friendly later this month falls in the Fifa international window‚ which means both local and overseas clubs will be compelled to release their players for the fixture.

It is not the kind of high-profile match that Baxter might have liked, with Bafana having failed to secure a friendly against one of the World Cup-bound teams‚ but will provide good preparation for the resumption of the African Nations Cup qualifiers in September‚ when South Africa host Libya.

Baxter will also have the regional Cosafa Cup‚ slated for May 27 to June 9‚ to build towards those matches, when in theory he could have a strong squad given that the season in South Africa and Europe will have ended.

Zimbabwe coach Sunday Chidzambwa said Bafana Bafana would be a good test for his side.

“I think it will be a very good match and they will give us a good test‚” the former Free State Stars and Black Leopards coach said.

“If resources are available, I would want us to try some of the players that we have not had a chance to assess before.

“I would like to believe that there are players out there in the diaspora who may be very good but whom we have not had a chance to see, and playing a team like Bafana Bafana gives us that perfect platform to test our strength.

“Like us‚ South Africa may be out of the World Cup but they are also building for the Nations Cup and these are the kind of important matches we need.”

Zimbabwe and South Africa have clashed on 13 previous occasions‚ with six wins each and a draw. – Nick Said