30 June 2023 – Bafana Bafana COSAFA squad coach Morena Ramoreboli has named his final team for the regional tournament to be held in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, next month.
The tournament will take place from 5 – 16 July 2023 and Ramoreboli conceded that it was not easy finalising the squad for the event. The team has been in camp in Pretoria since the beginning of the week and will travel to Durban on Sunday, 2 July 2023.
“This is the final team for the COSAFA Cup. I think it’s only proper for me to firstly take this opportunity to thank the President of SAFA, Dr Danny Jordaan, for giving us this opportunity,” he said. “We also thank the SAFA Technical Committee under the leadership of Jack Maluleka, the CEO Ms Lydia Monyepao, as well as the Technical Director (Walter Steenbok) for the support.
“Again, I think it’s proper to thank all the clubs who allowed their players to be part of this program, especially during this period where clubs are preparing for the new season, we thank them a lot. We also thank all of these players who are here in camp. Some of them were still in off-season, but they sacrificed to be here. We really appreciate it.
“It was not easy, honestly speaking, to come up with the final team because, you know, during this period, players withdraw, sometimes after the call-up letters have been sent you realize that the players is injured, maybe from last season. But like I said, we really want to thank all the clubs that co-operated and gave us the players.”
Bafana Bafana play their first match of the tournament against Namibia on Wednesday, 5 July 2023.
“Our preparations have gone very well and I’m also happy with the quality we are having here. There are some very committed individuals, very hungry, willing to fight for the nation. So we are just hoping that we will be consistent and focused throughout the tournament. I really want to thank all the South Africans for their prayers and the support.”
Hosts South Africa were drawn against Namibia, Eswatini and Botswana in Group A.
Group B has defending champions Zambia, Malawi, Seychelles and Comoros while Group C contains Mozambique, Angola, Mauritius and Lesotho.
