Bafana Bafana will be hoping to use the passionate local support to their advantage in East London as they prepare to take on Angola in an international friendly at Buffalo City Stadium.
Stand-in Bafana coach Owen da Gama was pleased with the warm welcome his side received on Sunday as his charges arrived in the Eastern Cape.
“It is always pleasing to know that there are people who will give us such a rousing welcome,” said Da Gama.
“This gives us the confidence to continue to do well in our second match against Angola. This is somewhat an indication that the fans will come in numbers to the stadium to see their heroes up close and personal. We really appreciate that they have sacrificed their Sunday afternoon to come and welcome us, and we will have to repay them with another good displace on Tuesday,” said Da Gama.
This will be Bafana’s second clash in three days after they brushed aside Guinea-Bissau 3-1 in an international friendly match at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
Goals from Kermit Erasmus and second half substitutes Percy Tau and Andile Jali ensured South Africa walked away convincing victors against the visitors.
Da Gama says, however, with the quality in the squad it was difficult to select the starting eleven.
“You want to give players a chance to play but also you want to get the right combinations, and we wanted to play the type of soccer that suits South African players. But we were happy with the combinations we saw in this match. It just shows the rich talent we have in this country. There’s obviously still a lot of hard work to do ahead. And we will make more changes in the second match, the two youngsters will play – Phakamani Mahlambi and Luther Singh – because we have to be brave enough to give them a chance, it’s the only way we can move forward. So we were very happy with the exercise against Guinea-Bissau,” added Da Gama.
“We created a lot of chances and we could have put some away but we did not. You saw what Percy Tau did, he was a marvel to watch. Another player is Kamohelo Mokotjo – one of the players in the squad said he would pay to watch him play – now for a player to say that means there is a lot of quality in this team. I was very happy with the performance and how the players applied themselves.”
Despite the good display by those who featured against Guinea-Bissau, Da Gama says he will make changes against Angola.
“The whole idea is to give all the players a run, without tempering with the structure. There has to be some sort of foundation where the team retains its structure – you can’t come up with wholesale changes.” – African News Agency (ANA)
