Bafana Call Up New Boys For Eagles

[Folami David]

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.

[Shola Sholaz]

South Africa must train very hard if they want things to happen for them this year in terms of football. They are really slacking.