Senong upbeat about young Bafana’s cup chances

DANNY Jordaan, the SA Football Association president who was elected for a second term a week ago, says that one of his immediate tasks is to make sure South Africa host the Fifa Club World Cup, a tournament in which Mamelodi Sundowns became the first representatives from this country in 2016.

He was re-elected after standing unopposed following challenger Ace Ncobo’s late withdrawal at the Sandton Convention Centre as he insisted the process was “fraudulent”.

Jordaan hasn’t wasted time in mapping out the way forward – and that includes Safa spearheading the bid for SA to not only host either the 2023 or 2027 Women’s World Cup but the Club World Cup as well.

“Once you have hosted a major event, you are compliant to host another one. But the longer you take then there is a gap between the best facilities, infrastructure and what you had 10 or 20 years ago,” he said, referring to SA staging the 2010 World Cup.

“Fifa have now proposed to move the seven-team Club World Cup to having 24 teams. And from an African and CAF perspective we still want to engage them on allocation. At the moment they are saying out of the 24 teams Europe gets 12, Africa gets two, North America gets two, Asia gets two and then six goes to South America.”

Jordaan said the continent’s football federations were unhappy with the proposal as it stands, especially seeing that Fifa want the Club World Cup to now take place every four years instead of annually like it is the case at the moment.

“They will therefore take the two finalists from the European Champions League over four years, which makes it eight. And then they will take the one winner from the Europa League over that same period,” he explained.

“But that is as far as it goes. How are you going to break down the allocation for African teams when you are only taking two teams over four years? I am going to meet with (Fifa president) Gianni Infantino in Moscow at the World Cup to discuss these issues. We have just fought for years for more allocation in the World Cup (from 2026 the global showpiece will expand to 48 teams instead of 32) and now this. If that is the logic for the European Champions League, then CAF will also have the same number of winners. Why not cut back on the finalists and just take the winners of the four tournaments? Why are you bringing a loser back as a finalist? It would be amazing for SA to host and it would be a huge incentive for our teams.”

Meanwhile, Safa will decide which way SA votes regarding the World Cup in 2026 – having to choose between the United States’ joint bid with Canada and Mexico or Morocco.

“The congress in Moscow is on June 13, and part of the business there is to vote for the country that will host the World Cup in 2026. As Safa we will discuss this matter in Polokwane (where the Cosafa Cup is behind played). We will invite the Minister of Sport (Tokozile Xasa) to attend,” Jordaan said.

EXCITING young wings Aphiwe Dyantyi and S’bu Nkosi and lock RG Snyman, pictured above left to right, will be the only debutants in the starting Springbok team to take on England in the first Test at Ellis Park on Saturday.

And, new coach Rassie Erasmus is expected to pick a spine of experienced campaigners for the first of three Tests – Willie le Roux at fullback, Handré Pollard at flyhalf, Faf de Klerk at nine, Duane Vermeulen at eighthman and Bismarck du Plessis at hooker.

The fifth overseas-based player in the 43-man Springbok squad picked for the oneoff Test against Wales and the three Tests against England – centre Frans Steyn – is likely to only play off the bench this coming weekend, if at all. He and hooker du Plessis will only join up with the rest of their Bok team-mates tomorrow after featuring for their French club, Montpellier, in the Top 14 final this last weekend. THABO Senong has backed the current Bafana Bafana squad to do well in the Cosafa Cup, where they’ll play in the quarter-finals today (3pm kick-off) against Madagascar at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

The squad comprises a number of Under-23 players, which gives fresh blood an opportunity in the senior team.

There are also three Under-20 players – Wiseman Meyiwa, Lyle Foster and Khulekani Kubheka.

“I’m obviously happy that some of our (Amajita) boys are in the team,’’ Senong, pictured, said. “It shows that there’s some good work

Erasmus’ team for Saturday’s match will have a far more experienced look about it than the side that travelled to Washington last week for the Test against Wales. That side featured 13 uncapped players in the match day squad, with only a handful of the men expected to be considered for duty at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Erasmus, though, said last week that between seven and 10 players in the squad for the Wales game would be considered for the first England game, which may be true, but not necessarily for the starting team. All the bench-sitters this coming weekend could come from the squad that travelled to Washington.

Le Roux, who plays for Wasps in the English Premiership, is almost certain to start at fullback, with the Lions’ Dyantyi and the Sharks’ Nkosi on the wings. The Bulls’ Warrick Gelant, though, could also be used at 15 with Le Roux playing on the wing, which would mean one of Dyantyi or Nkosi playing off the bench.

At centre it appears as if Erasmus will almost certainly go with Lukhanyo Am and that has been done at Amajita. Our job is just to prepare players for professional football, so that they can play for their respective clubs in the Absa Premiership but also push them to the Under-23 national Olympic team. But for them to even move quicker to Bafana Bafana, that excites us and we wish them well.

“A big thank you to coach Stuart Baxter for giving

Meyiwa, Kubheka and Damian de Allende, without doubt two of the in-form midfielders in Super Rugby this season. Neither travelled to Washington and are thus expected to be used in a new-look midfield pairing at Ellis Park. Jesse Kriel, who partnered rookie André Esterhuizen against Wales, will possibly come into the equation as a super-sub at the back – covering centre, wing and fullback.

Handré Pollard and De Klerk are certain of their starting roles in the first Test after being kept out of harm’s way in Washington and so are the three loose-forwards who were part of the 17 men in the 43-man squad that didn’t travel to the US – namely Vermeulen, Jean-luc du Preez and captain Siya Kolisi.

The Bulls’ Snyman and Franco Mostert of the Lions will definitely be involved on Saturday, but who starts and who sits on the bench will be determined by how Pieter-steph du Toit – who captained the Boks against Wales yesterday – recovers after the trip back to South Africa. He will almost certainly feature against England, but it could be as a starting lock or as a bench-sitter Foster a chance with the senior team. This shows that there’s a relationship between all coaches in the national ranks.’’

Bafana Bafana have been hard at training in Limpopo as they are hoping to prevent the embarrassment of being knocked out of the quarter-finals twice in a row. However, there’s hope that they’ll do well in the competition especially considering the fact covering lock and loose-forward.

In the front row, non-travelling props Tendai Mtawarira and Trevor Nyakane look set to start with Steven Kitshoff and Wilco Louw likely to warm the bench. Du Plessis, depending on his well-being after the Top 14 final, will start at hooker, with just-back-from-injury Bongi Mbonambi probably his back-up.

The three men who travelled to Washington as cover for the match day squad – prop Frans Malherbe, scrumhalf Cameron Wright and loose-forward Nizaam Carr – are not in the running to play against England.

Saturday’s Test kicks off at 5pm and it is followed by further Tests in Bloemfontein and Cape Town. that they are led by the Premier Soccer League’s best defender Siyanda Xulu, while the league’s midfielder of the season Siphesihle Ndlovu is also in the mix.

The Soweto-born coach reckons that this competition will be a breeding ground for a good many upcoming youngsters.

“We have a good team and we just need to get the chemistry right and gei together as a unit. I have no doubt that they’ll do well,’’ he said. “They’ve worked hard preparing for the Cup, I wish them well, and I know they won’t disappoint. The objective is to give young players exposure; it’s a development tournament and whoever does well can consider themselves winners.’’

Meanwhile Senong and his charges – Amajita – are two matches away from qualifying for the 2019 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations in Niger. They’ll face Malawi over a two-legged encounter in July in the final round.

“For us the qualifiers are still very important, and Malawi are tough,’’ Senong said.

“We’ll camp early next month, and have a friendly before the official match. At the moment we’ve given players individual programs during the off-season so that they can keep fit. There’s a bit of cross-training too to ensure they’re in top shape..’’

@Mihlalibaleka