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South Africa/Lesotho: Chiefs Pull Players Out of Lesotho Friendly
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
27 November 2007
Posted to the web 27 November 2007
Mninawa Ntloko
Johannesburg
FACED with increasing pressure from Fifa to start winning games, Carlos Alberto Parreira's preparations for the 2008 African Nations Cup were dealt a huge blow yesterday when Kaizer Chiefs withdrew their players from the Bafana Bafana squad to face Lesotho in a practic e match today.
Chiefs manager Bobby Mot- aung said they needed their three players in the Bafana squad - goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, defender Mokete Tsotetsi and midfielder Simphiwe Tshabalala -- for Saturday's Telkom Knockout final against Mamelodi Sundowns. They could not afford a disruption because of a practice match, he said.
"We are preparing for a cup final here and they (the Bafana camp) know this," Motaung said.
"How could this practice match be scheduled in midweek when we have a cup final at the weekend? This is hardly our problem and they (the Bafana camp) must sort it out with the Premier Soccer League (PSL)."
Parreira is planning to run the rule over a few players based in SA today, and the last-minute withdrawal of the Chiefs players has not gone down very well with the Bafana camp.
Bafana team manager Sipho Nkumane said they were disappointed Chiefs had withdrawn players at the last minute when they had known for several days they had been called up to Bafana's squad. "They could have told us this last week because they knew then that they had a cup final on Saturday and some of their players had been selected to the Bafana squad.
"They say they are not releasing players as this is a practice match. Why are they saying all this only now? This will definitely affect our preparations -- we now have to put our heads together and try to come up with suitable replacements that will not affect the coach's plans too much."
Nkumane said Khune's place would be taken by Bidvest Wits' Moneeb Josephs, Amazulu's Bafo Biyela would come in place of Tshabalala, and SuperSport United's Bongani Khumalo would replace Tsotetsi.
Orlando Pirates' Lebohang Mokoena has been brought in to replace Brent Carelse, who played for Mamelodi Sundowns against Jomo Cosmos yesterday, in a rescheduled premiership match that was abandoned because of rain last week.
Parreira will be forgiven for thinking SA's whole football fraternity wants him to fail, because he has had to battle clubs almost every time he has selected their players for the national team.
His preparations during the triumphant march to the Cosafa Cup title and even the friendly matches Bafana have played in the past few months have been bumpy at best and there have even been occasions when the European-based players have joined the Bafana camp long before the domestic contingent.
The players have found themselves caught in the middle of the seemingly never-ending standoff and Chiefs could find themselves in the cold when Parreira names his final squad to the African Nations Cup next month.
The bitter standoff has pushed Parreira into a corner, because Fifa president Sepp Blatter and his executive are concerned by Bafana's continuing slide down the Fifa rankings.
Blatter said at the weekend that each Bafana defeat over the past few months had been greeted with dismay at Fifa's Zurich headquarters and they needed Parreira to start winning.
The Swiss soccer boss said the 2010 World Cup hosts could not continue on this spiral. Bafana had to halt the slide, starting with the African Nations Cup in Ghana from January next year.
Yet Parreira is seemingly on a hiding to nothing as Fifa does not know about the challenges that seem to accompany the naming of every Bafana squad these days.
The Bafana squad is:
Goalkeepers: Wayne Sandilands and Moeneeb Josephs
Defenders: Bryce Moon and Brett Evans, Bevan Fransman, Ashraf Hendricks, Thabo Nthethe, Innocent Mdledle, Bongani Khumalo
Midfielders: Lindokuhle Mkwanazi and Bennett Chenene, Erwin Isaacs, Thando Mngomeni, Mfundo Shumana and Clifford Ngobeni, Lebohang Mokoena, Bafo Biyela
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Strikers: Excellent Walaza, Norman Smith, Katlego Mphela, Terror Fanteni, Diyo Sibisi
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