The 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts take on the Warriors at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Wednesday, and Bafana Bafana manager Sipho Nkumane said late last week that the match will be used to gauge their players ability to stand their ground in what looks like a tough Group A of the worlds biggest soccer showcase. South Africa come up against Mexico, Uruguay and France, with their Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira having been given the tough task of guiding them through to the knock-out stages for the first time ever in their third appearance at the World Cup finals.
Nkumane told The Zimbabwean On Sunday that Wednesdays game against the Warriors will be the first realistic chance for the local based players to prove that they have what it takes to represent their country. Our players will get full international caps for their game against Zimbabwe because we consider them (Zimbabwe) to be a strong side, said Nkumane. That match will give a clue on which local based players we should consider for our final national team squad for the World Cup. The Bafana manager added that the players who impress against the Warriors will be selected for next months training camp in Brazil.
Nkumanes comments must have laid the ground for a potentially explosive tie between the two neighbouring countries, with Zimbabwe having also selected a strong squad consisting of most of their foreign legion that are based in South Africa. Although both sides did not make it to the 2010 African Nations Cup finals currently taking place in Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe are considered two of the four powerhouses of Southern African football, alongside Angola and Zambia who both qualified for the continental tournament.
The Warriors and Bafana Bafana have six regional Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) titles between them the Bafana having won it twice and Zimbabwe four times. Bafana Bafana are also one of only two Southern African nations (alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to have won the Nations Cup when they triumphed as hosts in 1996 and ended in the top four in four successive competitions, between then and 2002.
Post published in: Football