Parreira cries for Argentina

Carlos Alberto Parreira is hoping to play Argentina in South Africa on May 27, as part of Bafana's final preparations for the 2010 World Cup finals.

This fixture was not confirmed on Thursday by the South African Football Association (Safa), but Bafana's Brazilian coach wants the game played at Soccer City to give his side experience of playing top class opposition.

"I want this game," said Parreira.

"I want them to have the experience of playing Argentina. Playing in Soccer City in front of 90 000 people will be intimidating. When it comes to the big one against Mexico (Bafana's World Cup 2010 opener on June 11), I want them to enjoy themselves. They cannot go into the ground under too much pressure."

Before that, Parreira will take his squad next week for a month-long training camp in Brazil.

Safa on Thursday confirmed that Bafana would play four club sides in South America, before travelling to Paraguay for an international friendly on March 31.

The tepid draw with Namibia on Wednesday night gave further indication that Parreira has an abundance of work to do on Bafana's venture to Brazil.

But the Bafana coach remains confident that in South America he can start to build a decent foundation for the World Cup.

He has managed to pry just two players away from their overseas clubs for the month-long trip to Brazil.

Kermit Erasmus of Holland's Excelsior Rotterdam and Daylon Claasen of Ajax Amsterdam will join 27 Absa Premiership players for the Brazil camp.

There were no particular surprises, though Matthew Pattison of Sundowns was not included, while Morgan Gould misses out because of an ankle injury that means he cannot play for six weeks.

Among the club friendlies, Bafana will play Cruzeiro in Minas Gerais on March 17, and Joel Santana's Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro on March 20.

Bafana will stay at the Brazilian national team's training base in Granja Comary outside Rio de Janeiro from March 8-21, before moving to the Traffic Training Centre outside Sao Paolo from March 22 to April 6.

"In Brazil, football is concentrated mainly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, in the south of Brazil," said Parreira.

"This is a huge opportunity for these boys to face a different kind of football. We have a chance to build the foundation of our team, because we cannot expect the players from overseas (for the World Cup). I think we have five of them injured.

"I do not know how long they will be out - two months, one month, six weeks. We are sending our doctor out there to find out what is going on."

Parreira was referring to injuries to the likes of Fulham midfielder Kagiso Dikgacoi and West Ham United striker Benni McCarthy, long-term injury casualties at their clubs.

If Bafana's performance against Namibia is anything to go by, Bafana are desperate for players of this class to be fully fit.

Parreira admitted that Bafana were not good against the Brave Warriors, but pointed to the fact that he fielded an experimental team.

"The camp will make this team," he said.

"The CEO (Lesley Sedibe) said to me the team were not good against Namibia, and I agree. But where I do not agree is that every time the team come, we have one day to prepare. You see Real Madrid, Chelsea, they play every Saturday and Wednesday with the same team.

"Yesterday was an opportunity to see players, to assess them for the World Cup.

"We will take 29 players to Brazil. This team will be with us 24 hours a day. I don't know how many games we will win or lose, but this is the process that will take us to the World Cup.

"Once we play here in Joburg (on June 11), that is when we want to be winning."

When questioned about the form of Teko Modise, the captain for the Namibia game, Parreira stressed that all his squad had not reached the level of fitness he wants for the World Cup.

"The level of fitness we found yesterday is not the level for the World Cup, not the level to win World Cup games. We just picked a player for one day and they brought whatever fitness they had with their clubs.

"Part of the reason for the success in the Confederations Cup was that the physical trainer, Francisco, had the team for six weeks. We were the only team in the cup who had our players for so long.

"This camp will be very good for the boys. I already took Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Brazil. The benefits were unbelievable.

"With Kuwait (who Parreira coached at the 1982 World Cup), we won everything, a place at the Olympics, we won the Asian Cup, we won the Gulf Cup.

"We won every competition with the experience we took from Brazil."

What Parreira did not mention, however, is that he has not won a World Cup finals match with any team outside Brazil.

Whatever the Brazilian achieved with Kuwait, he is going to have to take Bafana one step beyond in the 2010 World Cup.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Emile Baron (SuperSport United), Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs), Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates)

Defenders

Siboniso Gaxa (Mamelodi Sundowns), Matthew Booth (Sundowns), Bongani Khumalo (SuperSport), Innocent Mdledle (Sundowns), Thabo Nthethe (Bloemfontein Celtic), Siya- bonga Sangweni (Golden Arrows), Lucas Thwala (Pirates), Siyanda Xulu (Sundowns)

Midfielders

Franklin Cale (Sundowns), Daylon Claasen (Ajax Amsterdam, Holland), Lance Davids (Ajax CT), Andile Jali (Pirates), Than- duyise Khuboni (Arrows), Daine Klate (SuperSport), Reneilwe Letsholonyane (Chiefs), Teko Modise (Pirates), Thulani Serero (Ajax CT), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Chiefs)

Strikers

Kermit Erasmus (Excelsior Rotterdam, Holland), Richard Henyekane (Arrows), Thulasizwe Mbuyane (Pirates), Lebohang Mokoena (Sundowns), Surprise Moriri (Sundowns), Katlego Mphela (Sundowns), Gert Schalkwyk (Pirates), Tlou Segolela (Celtic)