09 November 2021 – Bafana Bafana were unleashed at Dobsonville Stadium for a training session early on Tuesday morning, their first of two scheduled for the day with the second taking place towards late afternoon.
Coach Hugo Broos has maintained that with the game being a day away the tempo of the training remains moderate in a quest to keep everyone fresh.
“We have to bear in mind that we don’t have many days to train before the game, so the tempo has to be maintained so that we do not tire the players bearing in mind that we have a very big fixture against Zimbabwe on Thursday. Victor Letsoalo is suspended so we cannot play him against the neighbours and Jesse Donn arrived late on Monday night, so we are ready,” said the head coach who has instilled self believe in a team, where the average age is roughly 24 and the youngest 20.
The Bafana camp does not emulate what has transpired in past qualifiers in terms of time available before a game. Thursday is the Zimbabwe clash, Friday the team leave for Ghana, arrive on Saturday and the next world cup qualifier is scheduled for Sunday night and then homeward bound on Monday. A whirlwind of a trip in a bid to secure a spot in the Fifa World Cup 2022, where only five African nations participate.
The entire team along with the staff compliment have undergone two rounds of Covid-19 tests so far, with the third scheduled on Wednesday morning, prior to the clash against Zimbabwe at FNB Stadium at 21h00 on Thursday night. Catch the action live on SABC 1, Open View Channel 124, DTT, TelkomOne and SABC radio stations.