Johannesburg – A little over six weeks before the African Nations Championship (Chan) kicks off in Cape Town, Gordon Igesund still doesn’t know what squad he’ll be allowed to pick for the tournament.
Igesund has a camp planned for late next month and early January ahead of Bafana Bafana opening the competition against neighbouring Mozambique on January 11. But a sticking point remains that he can’t pick his best available side, as he so wishes, if the SA Football Association and the Premier Soccer League do not find common ground regarding fixtures which the league have put right in the middle of the tournament.
Bafana’s heroic win over Spain on Tuesday was their final major friendly before the Chan, meaning Igesund now has to start preparing for that competition by selecting only local-based players.
“I made it clear to the association that we have a responsibility as a country to field the best available team for this tournament,” Igesund said. “But whether we get the players we want is out of my hands. It’s really for Safa and the PSL to resolve. The PSL have scheduled two fixtures during the tournament and that doesn’t really give teams much of an option. But it’s only fair if we give these players a chance to participate in the tournament.”
The Bafana coach said he would like to know “sooner rather than later” whether his request to select players he wants would be acceded to, but a planned pre-tournament camp around Christmas time seems doomed if he’s not told early next month.
In spite of both the PSL and Safa stating the issue would be resolved through their clearly non-efficient joint liaison committee, a revised fixture list sent by the PSL this week still didn’t accommodate the Chan
Yet Safa president Danny Jordaan, also speaking on Tuesday, was hopeful a solution would be found. “The coach (Igesund) feels strongly about fielding his best possible team. He’s buoyant about that and we’ll try to assist him. We had an NEC meeting and we’ll be taking the matter to the joint liaison committee. The coach will know soon how it’s resolved.”
Igesund plans to play two friendlies – one in December and another in January – in preparation for the tournament in which Bafana have been drawn against Mozambique, Mali and Nigeria. As it doesn’t fall under the official Fifa calendar, teams are not obliged to release players, and Igesund could be forced to utilise a fringe squad if the issue drags on unresolved.
Meanwhile, Jordaan praised Igesund’s team for the historic 1-0 win over world champions Spain at FNB Stadium. Bernard Parker struck in the second half to give South Africa their first-ever win over La Roja in four games.
“We are extremely delighted with this result,” said Jordaan. “This team have the potential to produce good football. They are getting confident, and I’m impressed by their ability to create opportunities.”
Jordaan said bringing the world champions here was always a risk for Safa, as Bafana could easily have faced a drubbing from a team who, before Tuesday, had lost just one friendly in two years.
“It was a huge risk to play Spain, but it’s good we took the chance. This result is a huge boost for SA football. It’s massive, and that we saw President Jacob Zuma and former President Thabo Mbeki coming to congratulate the players afterwards shows how significant this win was.”
The Star