Bafana schedule enough to make Igesund want to do a Pole vault
IF HE had his way, Gordon Igesund would have canned Bafana Bafana’s upcoming friendly with Poland next month in favour of African opponents.
South Africa travel to Bydgoszcz to meet the Polish in a friendly that coach Igesund expressed his reservations about, saying he doubted it would serve as adequate preparation for next year’s African Nations Cup, taking place here from January 19 to February 10.
“I tried to move this fixture (against Poland) so that we could play African opposition,” Igesund said, following Bafana’s 2-0 victory over Mozambique on Tuesday evening.
“Frankly, Poland are not an ideal opposition for us at this time, when we need to prepare for the Nations Cup. It’s not the same as playing against Zam- bia or other teams on the continent that could provide us with a real test for the tournament.”
Igesund’s efforts have been defeated, however, and Bafana’s meeting with the Polish – which will be the second between the nations – goes ahead on October 12, when other African countries will be battling to secure a ticket to the Nations Cup finals next year.
“The fact is when I got here I found a programme in place,” Igesund said. “A contract had been signed with Poland for this game, so there’s little that can be done at this stage. The best thing to do is for us to wait for the (Nations Cup) draw (on October 26) and look to play teams that won’t be in our group. We will have to line up three or four strong teams.”
Bafana also plan to play the United Arab Emirates four days after their clash with Poland, in another friendly that’s unlikely to benefit Igesund’s men.
The match against the UAE, however, has yet to be confirmed. “Both associations are still negotiating and we should finalise this game in the next few days. The idea is to go from Poland to the Emirates and play there on October 16,” said Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi.
Bafana’s only confirmed African opponents are Zambia in November, in a clash that should provide Igesund with a clearer picture of the team’s readiness for the Nations Cup.
Tuesday’s tie with Mozambique at Mbombela, which Bafana won 2-0 thanks to a brace by Bernard Parker, was not an adequate test, with the Mambas under-strength and SA looking jaded.
But Igesund still drew positives from the match, maintaining that Mozambique had given a great account of themselves and were worthy opponents, even though they rested five players from the team that shocked Morocco in a Nations Cup qualifier at the weekend.
The Bafana coach did, however, acknowledge that more work lies ahead as his charges failed to take advantage of the incompetence of their weakened opponents.
“We had a very difficult 10 days in camp, having to travel through five time zones. And it showed against Mozambique because the players were tired. But I’m happy with the effort of the players. They could only do so much with four days’ training. The fact is I don’t have a magic wand to wave. These things take time. We are progressing nicely and we’ll get there.”
Igesund is also hoping to get more Nations Cup preparation time later this year by asking the Premier Soccer League to move fixtures scheduled for December 18 and 19 so that he can have a month-long camp ahead of the tournament.