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Joel Santana on his plans for the upcoming friendly games
National Coach, Joel Natalino Santana, says he is looking forward to defending the Nelson Mandela Challenge when Bafana Bafana hosts Norway on 28 March 2009 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng, Rustenburg. The game will kick off at 3pm. In announcing his team of 23 players, who will jet out immediately after the game to Switzerland to play a Friendly Game against Portugal, Santana says these are two great games that are part of the crucial preparation for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
“The team we are announcing will play both games, which are not going to be easy. I am however excited by these tough friendly matches which are the sort that we need as we build towards the bigger picture, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. What we know is that Norway plays hard, but we still need to have a better look at all their recent games. At least I'm much more aware of Portugal and their recent games,” says Santana.
The coach says these games come at a challenging time for the team because some of the players have not been in consistent match action at club level either because of contract changes, club changes or are at the start of their football seasons in their various countries. He says it's a bit of a challenge but they will produce the best team for the two upcoming important games.
“You will also note that we will be playing in two types of weather seasons. In Rustenburg we will be playing in our summer, while in Switzerland it will be biting winter which is two contrasting temperatures. But I think there is something good that we can take out of that because when we play the Confederations Cup in June, we will be in our winter. But for the players who are currently in Europe, they will be able to cope with the weather in Europe, while South African-based players will welcome temperatures in South Africa.”
Santana says the technical team is working hard to create a pool of three players per position, saying all positions need to have sufficient backup. He says they are working within the master plan of creating a world class team for the 2010 World Cup. The coach says that they are now narrowing down a pool of about 50 players down to 30 players for the Confederations Cup.
“The team is made largely of the core of players that have characterised Bafana Bafana over the last few games, but there are a few faces that are coming in to complement the team. The team for the Confederations Cup has not been finalised and we shall continue to work towards having the team we can all be proud of,” says Santana.
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