BAFANA Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has added at least four fresh faces to his squad after naming his 38-man preliminary squad for the coming Afcon qualifiers.
The South African national team put in a tremendous, bronze-worthy showing in the last edition of the continental competition in Ivory Coast. Broos and his men will be eager to feature in the next one in Morocco with Uganda, Congo and South Sudan standing in their way in Group K.
Bafana will battle Uganda’s Cranes first on September 6 at the Orlando Stadium at 6pm before flying out to South Sudan for their second match on September 10.
Broos’ men are expected to still be on a high after they drew away to Nigeria and outclassed Zimbabwe four days later in World Cup qualifiers in June.
Due to the shortage of top-flight action in the country, Broos has unsurprisingly kept a huge chunk of his most trusted soldiers in the squad but also introduced new bodies to the group.
Kaizer Chiefs’ new man Rushwin Dortley is named in a Broos-led team for the first time after his impressive showing in the last Cosafa Cup under Helman Mkhalele.
Also new to the system is Stellenbosch’s most sought-after star, left-back Fawaaz Basadien, who has forced himself into the national team picture with a string of fine performances last season.
Orlando Pirates’ emerging midfield general Thalente Mbatha also makes an expected appearance on the roster after recently making his move to the Sea Robbers permanent.
The pick of the new boys, however, is Dutch-born Simon van Duivenbooden who now holds South African citizenship and has been thrust into the national team picture.
A striker by trade, the 22-year-old travelled through various youth academies in the Netherlands and has been on the books of Legmeervogels, Alphense Boys, Vitesse, and PSV before returning to Vitesse to make his professional debut in 2021.
It was in 2022 that he made his mark for the club and became a regular and earned himself a contract that is due to expire next year.
Although he’s playing in the second division of Dutch football with Vitesse, Duivenbooden seems to have caught the eye of Broos.
With the competition in the squad, the cut-throat Broos is expected to have huge decisions to make in trimming his team to at least 23 men who will take part in the two matches.
Tickets to the opening qualifier against Uganda have gone on sale at all TicketPro outlets and South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan and CEO Lydia Monyepao have urged fans to come out in numbers and support the team.
Gates will open at 3pm on Friday, 6 September and tickets are priced at R30 (Children, Scholars and Student), R60 for Adults, and R140 for Family (2 adults + 2 children).
The tickets are available at TicketPro, all Spar supermarkets (QuickSpar and SuperSpar), SASOL, ENGEN, SHELL, PowerFashion and JAM Clothing.
