IMPORTANT MATCHES

The South African national team manager Gordon Igesund has said that the team will be playing in three important friendly matches against Zambia, Norway, and Algeria as preparation for the 2013 African cup of nations. The African cup of nations will be held in South Africa, thus giving the nation an ideal opportunity to win this tournament.

The first match for the nation will be against Cape Verde Islands. Gordon Igesund has said that he has not been trying out new formations and styles with the team, but has been just looking at the players for this competition.

As a result, the three matches against Zambia, Norway, and Algeria give them a great opportunity to try out new aspects that will push them towards success at the African cup of nations. Due to the fact that many high-profile teams like Ivory Coast and Ghana come into the tournament with relative degree of weaknesses, Igesund thinks that this is a great opportunity for them to win. Igesund has revealed that he will announce the final 23 man squad for the tournament after the Norway match. He has said that the result of the encounter is not important from these matches, but the performance is what matters.

“Because of the fact that we have a match against Malawi, then a three day break and then another camp, I can’t call one squad for this and one squad for the other, so that is why I have called up a squad of plus minus 30 players and keep on changing them. I would also like to give some of the players who have recently returned to action after injuries, a chance to prove themselves. This game against Malawi is like the other five games we have already played, winning and losing is not important,” said Igesund.

SURMAN REJECTS SOUTH AFRICA

The South African National football team manager Gordon Igesund has said that he will not be trying to persuade the Norwich city defender Andrew Surman anymore after the 26-year-old apparently rejected the opportunity to play for the Bafana Bafana.

Recently Gordon Igesund met with the Norwich city defender Andrew Surman in order to speak about the possibility of playing for the South African national team. Even at the 26 years of age, Surman is yet to make his debut for an international team. He is eligible to play for both South Africa and England, but is thought to be keen on representing England.

Hence, Igesund has said that he thought that the meeting with the player was pointless after just 5 min because he was not showing enough passion. Surman was born in the South African capital Johannesburg 26 years ago, but he has very little ties with the African nations according to the manager. Hence, it would have been a massive favour from the player if he decided to play for South Africa, and Igesund is in no need of favours right now. Igesund has failed to criticise the player for not showing enough interest in playing for the South African national team.

“I am not disappointed at all. I think it was my duty to go and see Surman and after five or six minutes I realised that I was wasting my time. I do not think that he showed enough passion for me to even consider him. He has got no ties to South Africa and I think if I had tried to convince him, he would have thought he was doing us a favour. And I do not need favours from any players,” said Igesund regarding the future of Andrew Surman. South Africa will play against Zambia in a friendly match.

IGESUND IS CONFIDENT

The South African national team manager Gordon Igesund has said that he is extremely confident that his team will be able to dominate the African cup of nations that will be held in January this year.

South Africa have the experience of playing in high profile friendlies matches against the likes of Brazil, while they were also recently involved in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Gordon Igesund has said that such experience has helped the players become much better and it will come to the forte when South Africa play in the African cup of nations this year should they qualify for this tournament.

One of the biggest advantages South Africa will have in this tournament will be the home support. It almost helped the nation qualify for the next round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup before they were eliminated in the group stages. Gordon Igesund is confident that the home support will once again play an important role, but this time they will help the team win the title itself. Due to the incredible home support, South Africa go into the African cup of nations 2013 as one of the favourites to win the title.

“I think at the moment there is a great vibe in the country regarding our national team. I know when this national team goes into the field and there are 60 000 people blowing their vuvuzelas, truly supporting the players and getting behind the team, we will be very difficult to beat. If the boys continue with their positive attitude, we really can go places including conquering Africa of course,” Igesund told the official website of the South African football Federation. He has recently confirmed that he is ready to look at players playing outside South Africa when it comes to picking his squad.

SURPRISED BY QUALITY

The South African national team manager Gordon Igesund has said that he is extremely surprised at the quality of the overseas players of the South African national team. A number of the South African players have started moving to overseas clubs in recent seasons.

Once upon a time, players like Benni McCarthy were the very few contingent who were playing their football in other continents. However, that situation has changed a lot in recent times according to the manager of the national team, Gordon Igesund. He has praised this attitude amongst the South African players by saying that it has improved their quality.

Kagisho Dikgacoi and Dean Furnham are some of the players plying their trade in English football. The former is currently playing for the Championship club Crystal Palace, while the latter is playing for the League One club will Oldham athletic. Both these players have been extremely good for the club teams in the last season, which has ensured that the national team has also improved and benefited from their experience. Bongani Khumalo and Kamohelo Mokotjo play in the Greek and Dutch leagues respectively. They play for PAOK and Feyenoord respectively.

“Not everyone being observed will automatically get called to the national team. This is a normal exercise in the name of fairness that I assess as many players as possible. Having said that, I must admit that I am generally happy with what I have seen from most of these players. It gives me a fantastic headache because I will have a bigger pool on which to choose from,” said the manager of the South African national team, Gordon Igesund in a recent interview. South Africa will be facing the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil, in September. It is one of the much anticipated matches.

BRAZIL LINE UP FRIENDLY

The South African national team will be playing a friendly match against five-time world champion Brazil. The South African Football Association confirmed this news at a recent press conference.

Brazil for qualified for the World Cup 2014 as the host nation for the competition. As a result, they will be not having the usual preparation in the form of the World Cup qualifiers. They have been playing a number of friendly matches against high-profile teams such as Fernando Torres‘s Spain and Lionel Messi‘s Argentina and also upcoming games in order to judge their squad for this major tournament. Brazil are undoubtedly one of the favourites to win the tournament itself.

South Africa were the host of the last World Cup in 2010. This will be travelling to São Paulo in order to face Brazil on 7 September 2012. It is not the first time the South African national team will be taking on the Brazilians. The two teams have already met each other back in 2009 during the FIFA Confederations Cup. Only a Daniel Alves helped Brazil win the match after some stern defending from South Africa. It will be a different Brazil team they will be facing this time around, as the coach has been using a number of young players as preparation for the World Cup.

“We are honoured to be playing Brazil in their backyard as they seldom play friendly matches at home. To us this is a big coup considering it will probably be the first official match for the new Bafana Coach whom we will announce at the end of this month. We are very delighted to announce that we have just received the final confirmation because we have been working on this match for the last six months,” said the chief executive of the South African Football Association, Dr Petersen.

STILL GOT IT

Orlando Pirates striker Benni McCarthy’s brace in the match against Golden Arrows proved that he still has a lot to offer at the top level of the game and also it showed the South African national team manager that he was wrong to leave him out of the World Cup 2014 qualifiers squad.

The 34-year-old Benni McCarthy is widely regarded to be the greatest striker for South Africa, but the South African national football team manager Pitso Mosimane decided to leave him out for the qualifying matches. The national team will be looking to make their appearance in only their second World Cup after performing extremely well in the home World Cup two years ago.

The 4-2 win over Golden Arrows ensured that Orlando Pirates won the title that will give them the opportunity to play their hands on the prize money of $ 1.3 million. Benni McCarthy scored two goals in the second half of the match to once again criticise the decision to leave him out of the squad. South Africa did not do well in the latest African cup of nations after they scored only four goals in the six matches, which has led to calls for inclusion of the stars like Benni McCarthy and Siyabonga.

“Benni might have had his differences with some national football association officials in the past, but he has been a reformed character playing at Pirates this season. S have found him to be a model footballer who is disciplined and trains hard. It is all very well saying South Africa must find players for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but first you have to get there,” said the manager of Orlando Pirates – Augusto Palacios – after winning the title. Benni McCarthy has 31 goals in 79 appearances for South Africa.

FIFA INVESTIGATES MATCH FIXING

The South African Football Association has announced that it would be welcoming the FIFA delegation that is set to conduct an investigation into the alleged match fixing leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

There have been intense speculation that the South African national football team was involved in match fixing of the four friendlies leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As a result, the FIFA delegation has been sent to South Africa in order to conduct an investigation. The South African Football Association President Kirsten Nematandani announced that he would be welcoming the FIFA delegation, and will be offering any help in their work.

One of the matches being investigated by the FIFA delegation will be the 2-1 victory of the South African national team over the Colombian National team.

A number of penalties were involved in the match, which is suspected to have come about as a result of suspicious activity in match fixing. Just before the match, the South African football team was involved in a 5-0 victory over Guatemala. They also were involved in a draw with Bulgaria and beat Thailand. These three victories and one draw has been under study by FIFA for quite some time now.

“We have complete confidence in the integrity and thoroughness of the Fifa process, and will assist in whatever way we can to get to the truth. We would also like to emphasise that Safa is not, at this stage, undertaking a parallel process, either internally or through an independent body. We trust that all parties will respect the Fifa process and allow it to reach its logical conclusion,” Safa CEO Tobin Petersen said in a recent interview. FIFA has said that they will have access to all the records of the South African Football Association.

INJURY HITS SOUTH AFRICANS

The South African national football team – Bafana Bafana – will be without up to 4 players for their crucial match between Ghana.

The national football team coach is set to be without four important players for this crucial match, which will take place in Zambia. The match will take place on January 15, and is expected to draw a huge number of fans. Nazeer Allie and Reneilwe Letsholonyane have already been ruled out of this match and the latest injury crisis will certainly be a major sore point for the Bafana Bafana fans.

“We are getting thinner and thinner, but at the same time we are becoming stronger with every training session. We will monitor George and see how it goes with him. On the other hand we welcome back Granwald Scott, who missed Wednesday’s encounter due to injury,” said the Bafana Bafana manager Pitso Mosimane.

Pitso Mosimane not only has the huge injury crisis ahead of him, but also the prospect of facing one of the best teams in Africa – Ghana. Ghana, together with Ivory Coast, are one of the favourites to win the 2012 African cup of nations. They will be providing a formidable opposition for South Africa in their efforts to win the title.

Captain Letsholonyane’s absence from the team means that Bloemfontein Celtic captain Thabo Nthete will be leading the team for this match. The Bafana Bafana completed their most recent training camp in a successful fashion and Nthete expressed confidence in the fact that they will be able to take that form into the match against Ghana.

It has been revealed by the South African football Federation said that 20,000 tickets will be available for this match. Nthete was part of the South African football team that was in a training camp prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.