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.