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SAFA reveal Bafana programme
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SAFA CEO Raymond Hack. Picture: football365.co.za
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At a meeting which seemed principally
designed to cement a more cordial relationship with a critical media,
SAFA on Friday revealed details of a busy programme for Bafana Bafana
leading up to the 2010 World Cup - with reciprocal games against Holland
and an away fixture against Germany the high points.
SAFA Ceo Raymond Hack also disclosed that Bafana's next full-scale international
against Ghana next month would be played in Bloemfontein - with the venue
for the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Cameroon in November also almost
certain to be staged outside of the Gauteng area.
Bafana will face Malawi in what was termed a "training game"
at Germiston Stadium at the end of the month and play Chile in South Africa
in February and also go to South America for a reciprocal game early in
2010.
"The erection of new stadiums and the renovations of others for the
World Cup leaves us with limited venue options for Bafana at this stage,"
added the Safa Ceo, "but we have utilised almost every available
date set aside by Fifa for internationals to give Bafana the chance to
further their preparation for the World Cup."
Hack also appealed to the media to show respect and tolerance towards
the under-pressure Joel Santana and avoid personal attacks on the Bafana
coach and other officials - with South Africa's failure to qualify for
the 2010 African Nations Cup in Angola still a sore point for many of
those present.
And, in what appears a new reconciliatory approach, SAFA intend to introduce
a format whereby the media will have closer contact with the Bafana technical
team - and thereby obtain greater insight into the problems facing the
national squad,
After the two-hour exchange of views, SAFA invited the media to a braai
at SAB headquarters in central Johannesburg - thereby prompting one soccer
writer to proclaim "if they prepare Bafana as well as the meat, we
might still be okay for 2010."
In a desperate attempt to make up lost ground, SAFA will organise camps
for Bafana players to commence as early as January or February, with the
PSL agreeing to complete their Premier League programme for the season
before then.
The project, however, could run into difficulties with Bafana's substantial
contingent of overseas-based players unlikely to attend.
And Hack said it had still to be decided whether players selected for
the Bafana camps - some of which will be held in South America - would
be given dispensation to feature for their clubs in PSL cup competitions
in 2010 before World Cup preparation begins in earnest in May.
Football365.co.za,
20/09/08
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