SA THIRD STRING IMPRESS IGESUND
Coach has a lot to think about
FOLLOWING Bafana’s 2-1 quarterfinal win against Namibia in Lusaka, Gordon Igesund is now more determined to turn some of the unfamiliar faces that impressed at the weekend into national team regulars.
The Bafana coach admitted to spending the first two days ahead of the Cosafa Cup clash working on making sure the “new team” keeps its shape against Namibia at Nkoloma Stadium – a game and result that has given him enough to think about.
Bafana have now moved from Lusaka to Ndola to take on Zambia in the semifinal on Wednesday night. Zambia beat Mozambique 3-1 yesterday.
Thulani Hlatshwayo, Lebogang Manyama, Jabulani Shongwe (scorer of the first goal), Hlompho Kekana (who netted the second) and Ruzaigh Gamildien all played key roles against neighbours Namibia and could be in the starting line-up on Wednesday.
Gamildien came off the bench to improve Bafana’s second half performance and earned himself the man-ofthe-match award. Igesund has promised to again ring the changes to see what the rest of the squad – considered to be a third string Bafana side – can do.
Asked whether one match was sufficient to decide if these faces would again be seen in future friendly internationals and World Cup qualifiers, Igesund said it was early days.
“And I will tell you why… there’s probably still another 40 players that did not get the chance because I wasn ’ t able to pick them for this tour- nament. I can start mentioning names like Bongani Zungu, Ryan Chapman, Sibusiso Vilakazi, but it’s unfair for me to go on.
“We ’ ve worked hard to have this pool of players and I think if we can get five or six of them to be regular senior internationals, we would have done a good job,” the coach said.
Igesund was willing to go into detail about what and which players impressed him against Namibia.
“There were a few players that had certain key roles to play and did so very well. I thought Hlatshwayo [who played at right-back] was excellent, with a good football brain and didn’t easily give the ball away,” he said.
“He is deceptively quick and can shoot from a distance. I couldn’t coach these players to play a certain way in just two days because when you do that you confuse them. I was happy that they showed a lot of passion, pride and commitment even though all I could do before the game was get them to keep the shape.”
On Gamildien he said: “He plays with that arrogance that says ‘ I know I’m a good player’ and doesn’t have to be nervous. One or two of the players, especially at the back, were a bit nervous. ”
Igesund singled out midfielder Lerato Chabangu for his contribution in the match and expressed delight at having defender Bevan Fransman available for the semifinals.
Fransman was held back in South Africa by his club SuperSport United to be part of their pre-season friendly against English Premier League outfit Manchester City at Loftus Stadium yesterday.