DESPITE being uncertain whether he will hang on to his Bafana job, coach Gordon Igesund yesterday named a youthful squad with an average age of 24 and declared he was starting over.
Some of the old guard have yet to make way for the inexperienced bunch, with the coach arguing that they needed “guidance” and should be “understudies”.
Bafana will travel to Agadir, Morocco next week to face the Lions of the Atlas in a friendly international. It will be Igesund’s second match since the coach’s failure to guide South Africa to next year’s World Cup in Brazil. He also confirmed that he was yet to hold a “formal meeting” with new South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan regarding his future.
Igesund, whose contract runs until July, retained the bulk of the side that beat Botswana 4-1 in a World Cup qualifier last month in Durban. Although the victory was not enough to send Bafana to the playoffs, the coach felt he could build from that team with a couple of tweaks.
While Thulani Serero was left out as expected due to his current broken relationship with Igesund, and the fact that he is recovering from injury, the coach roped in 20-year-old Keegan Dolly from Ajax Cape Town. Igesund has also recalled little known right-back Kgosietsile Ntlhe, who plays for Peterborough United in the English Third Division.
“If it is my fault that we failed to qualify for the World Cup, then I accept it. We won three of the four qualifiers I was in charge of, and there’s not much you can ask for really. But this is a new era for South Africa football because the average age of the squad I have picked is 24.
“In just about every position, I have picked a young player to be an understudy to a senior player. We want 26-year-olds to be playing at the World Cup,” explained Igesund.
Igesund has omitted Orlando Pirates players – with Kermit Erasmus the exception – from the trip because of their Caf Champions League commitments. The Buccaneers face Esperance in the second-leg of the semifinals away in Tunisia on October 19.
Igesund will not back off youth strategy
Some of the old guard have yet to make way for the inexperienced bunch, with the coach arguing that they needed “guidance” and should be “understudies”.
Bafana will travel to Agadir, Morocco next week to face the Lions of the Atlas in a friendly international. It will be Igesund’s second match since the coach’s failure to guide South Africa to next year’s World Cup in Brazil. He also confirmed that he was yet to hold a “formal meeting” with new South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan regarding his future.
Igesund, whose contract runs until July, retained the bulk of the side that beat Botswana 4-1 in a World Cup qualifier last month in Durban. Although the victory was not enough to send Bafana to the playoffs, the coach felt he could build from that team with a couple of tweaks.
While Thulani Serero was left out as expected due to his current broken relationship with Igesund, and the fact that he is recovering from injury, the coach roped in 20-year-old Keegan Dolly from Ajax Cape Town. Igesund has also recalled little known right-back Kgosietsile Ntlhe, who plays for Peterborough United in the English Third Division.
“If it is my fault that we failed to qualify for the World Cup, then I accept it. We won three of the four qualifiers I was in charge of, and there’s not much you can ask for really. But this is a new era for South Africa football because the average age of the squad I have picked is 24.
“In just about every position, I have picked a young player to be an understudy to a senior player. We want 26-year-olds to be playing at the World Cup,” explained Igesund.
Igesund has omitted Orlando Pirates players – with Kermit Erasmus the exception – from the trip because of their Caf Champions League commitments. The Buccaneers face Esperance in the second-leg of the semifinals away in Tunisia on October 19.
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