MOST of the Orlando Pirates team members were selected in the 24-man Bafana Bafana squad to play an international friendly against Swaziland.
Head coach Gordon Igesund has announced his squad to face Swaziland on November 15 at the National Stadium in the Swazi capital of Mbabane.
The match is scheduled to kick off at 20:30.
“We have only three or four games left before the Chan tournament and this is a very important match for me. This forms part of our preparations for the tournament next year. I have only about one month left,” said Igesund. “”I believe that the country has good soccer players and we must now prove that we are number one in Africa.”
“It is always tough to play in any international, Swaziland will have a go at us by all means,” he said, “but this is also a good time to prepare for the game against Spain the week after.”
All the players selected for this encounter are local-based as this is part of the preparations for the upcoming CAF CHAN tournament that begins in January next year.
“This is the first game that we will play in preparation for the CHAN tournament and its very important for us to get the rhythm going in the team, because these are some of the players that will play in that event. It is a very formidable team and we have a pool of about 38 players who are all fighting to make the final 23 players for the tournament, so it is very exciting and the match against Swaziland will be a good test for us,” said Igesund.
“It is also good to have all the Orlando Pirates players available after missing out due to CAF commitments.”
Bafana Bafana returns to South Africa on Saturday, November 16 to prepare for a friendly match against World and European Champions Spain.
The match against Spain takes place at FNB Stadium on Tuesday November 19.
That match kicks off at 21:00.
