Bafana in dire need of leftback

[caption id="attachment_89257" align="alignright" width="300"] ON THE SIDELINES: Thabo Matlaba is out of the Bafana side to play Mauritius on Sunday due to injury Picture: GALLO IMAGES -[/caption]

But Mashaba won’t be rushed on call for replacements

BAFANA Bafana were desperately in need of a leftback yesterday following the withdrawal of defenders Thabo Matlaba and Marc van Heerden, but coach Shakes Mashaba said he was in no rush to call up a replacement.

Mashaba yesterday took charge of the national team’s first training session for Sunday’s away game to Mauritius in the second leg of their African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifier and would have been relieved to have as many as 15 players reporting for duty.

Matlaba and Van Heerden pulled out due to injury, while Ntsikelelo Nyauza was withdrawn by his club Orlando Pirates, who cited a “hectic schedule in the Caf competitions”. Mashaba is now without a leftback, but said he would first assess the team before plugging the gaps.

“We are not frustrated,” the coach said. “My only concern is that this disturbs our preparations going forward, but we will not do too much today [Monday] because we are just going to get a feeling of the pitch and get serious the next day.

“I can’t give you names at the moment because we are still trying to get them and then we have to arrange for them to arrive in the morning.”

A suitable replacement is unlikely to be a Premier League veteran from any of the top clubs, given the frosty relationship between the elite division teams and the national team coach. Last week, when he announced his 18-man squad to travel to Mauritius, Mashaba did not include players from Bidvest Wits, Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United. Itumeleng Khune and Mandla Masango will see their Kaizer Chiefs contracts expire later today.

Mashaba was at least able to conduct a training session yesterday, something he was barely able to do in the buildup to the first leg played at the Dobsonville Stadium nearly two weeks ago. Premier League clubs had order their players back to pre-season camps, forcing the coach to cancel two training sessions as he did not have enough players.

“But I still think things are more or less the same. The question is whether the players are focused or not.

“Sometimes, you can go and play without having a session and still do well, but I agree that having four or five sessions now with the players gives us extra time to deal with our tactical work,” Mashaba said. -Mazola Molefe