Bafana Bafana want big guns

This seems most likely to be Uruguay, Argentina or Colombia, who all face African opposition in their respective groups at the tournament, with the match to be played away from home at the end of May or early June. The only problem for Safa in terms of securing the best players is that this game would not fall on an official Fifa date.

Bafana coach Stuart Baxter revealed plans were afoot to select three squads around this time – a senior side for the friendly international; an Olympic squad for the 2018 Cosafa Cup; and a squad containing some of the young players who did well at the recent Four Nations friendly tournament, who will play in another overseas friendly competition.

“We are working to have a Cosafa squad, a squad on the road playing senior football against good opposition and a squad playing a single game against one of the teams going to the World Cup as a sparring partner,” said Baxter.

“Even though they are not Fifa dates … with the fact that the World Cup comes up, then you can give your players a good break anyway. I am going to start work now going to the clubs and coaches and effecting that principle. I am not saying that is exactly what is going to happen, but that is our ambition.”

The hero of the Four Nations friendly international tournament in Zambia, which Bafana won on Saturday by beating the host nation in the final, was 22-year-old striker Lebo Mothiba, who scored twice in his first two senior international matches.

“I am very happy … scoring in my first games for Bafana is something special,” said Mothiba, who is also having a fine campaign in French club football, first with Ligue 2 side Valenciennes and now at Ligue 1 Lille.

“We didn’t get enough time to train, but we went there and showed them and we won the tournament.

“Playing my first game, I scored and my second game I went on in the last three or four minutes … the coach wanted me to come in and waste time but I went in and I scored! It is something brilliant.”