South Africa head coach, Gordon Igesund, has handed first-time calls to two players ahead of their Nelson Mandela Challenge game against African champions, Nigeria on August 14.
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The duo of Luyolo Nomandela and Bongani Zungu were surprise call-ups among a 28-man squad for the Nelson Mandela Challenge announced by Igesund on Tuesday.
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"They deserve to be there," Igesund said of Nomandela and Zungu on Tuesday.
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Igesund explained that he picked his 28-man squad for the two matches of the Mandela Challenge against Nigeria and Burkina Faso based on the form of players.
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The Bafana Bafana manager acknowledged that the African champions will present his team a tough match.
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"If you look at Nigeria, they have very good players and most of them play overseas, which shows this is not going to be an easy match," he said.
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A number of South Africa's first-choice players were left out of the squad while seven players from the team that took part in this year's Cosafa Cup made the cut.
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However, Igesund gave the pair of Innocent Mdledle and Andile Jali opportunities to make returns to the team after long spells out of the South African national team.
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The recall of Jali into the Bafana Bafana squad is the first time the Orlando Pirates midfielder is being considered by Igesund since he became South Africa head coach.
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Igesund even described the midfield enforcer as "fantastic" apparently for his dominant display in Pirates 3-0 win against Egyptian giants, Al Ahly in the Caf Champions League at the weekend.
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Jali was part of South Africa's preliminary squad before the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations but did not make the final 23.
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The South Africa versus Nigeria match will hold at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
South Africa must train very hard if they want things to happen for them this year in terms of football. They are really slacking.