Notoane beefs up CHAN squad ahead of Lesotho return leg

1 August 2019 – CHAN squad coach David Notoane has beefed up his squad ahead of Sunday’s (4 August 2019) return leg against Lesotho at Dobsonville Stadium. The match kicks off at 15h00 and entrance to the match is free of charge.

South Africa trail 3-2 from the first leg and Notoane has insisted all week that if all goes according to plan, this squad has what it takes overturn that narrow deficit.

Fielding mostly youngsters without international experience, South Africa fell to a sucker punch in the dying minutes denying them what could have been a credible 2-2 draw.

But despite that setback, Notoane is hopeful that South Africa will make it into the next round where the opponents are likely to be Zimbabwe.

“We have strengthened our team in some central areas as we have wanted going into the second leg,” he said after the team training session at Dobsonville in Soweto on Thursday.

“We are happy that we have (Zakhele) Lepasa from Orlando Pirates because the key challenge that we pretty much had against Lesotho in the first leg was that, we didn’t have an attacking focal point. Someone who could give the team the attacking depth and be able to connect the attacking group in terms of either holding on to the ball or giving us the necessary power to attack the goals,” he added.

“The arrival of Lepasa as well as Itumeleng Shopane from Kaizer Chiefs and Thabang Sibanyoni from Mamelodi Sundowns has taken our striking quality to the next level in terms of our attacking options.

“We are looking forward to our second leg game against Lesotho on Sunday. Our intent is clear, we have to attack, attack and attack but we should do so smartly,” he concluded.

Also joining the team this week are goalkeeper Sifiso Mlungwana from Golden Arrows, Paseka Mako from Pirates as well as Kgodiso Monama from University of Pretoria.