All Bafana players to taste action in friendlies
Broos to run rule over new players against Guinea and France
All the 23 players in Bafana Bafana's squad to face Guinea and France will taste action.
This has been revealed by coach Hugo Broos. SA, who are camping in the city of Lille in France, entertain Guinea in Belgium on Friday (7pm SA time), before travelling back to Lille to take on the world champions on Tuesday (9.15pm SA time).
“For me these games will be a good opportunity to see the new players. I want to see if there are improvements. Every player will play. We will try to make sure that every player at least plays one game but some will play both because I will be careful with the players who were injured in the past few weeks,” said Broos.
Broos isn't prioritising winning these two friendlies, insisting the most important thing is to use these matches to prepare for the 2023 Ivory Coast Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers in June. The Bafana tactician gave a sense that their clash against France is already being hyped up across the globe, highlighting why Guinea will also not be pushovers.
“I don't expect good results from these games. The results are not very important. I just want to see if the new players can improve the team and if we can succeed in that, we'll have a stronger team for the Afcon qualifiers in June,” said the Bafana mentor.
“I heard yesterday from people here [in France] that it'll be a full stadium, so the atmosphere will be fantastic. There's a lot of interest from the French people and also from other sides because France are the world champions.
"Guinea had a great Afcon. All their players are playing in Europe, so it will be a different experience to play them as well compared to playing against Botswana or whatever. The motivation from the players is there.”