Minutes after landing at the Kruger Mpumalanga Airport here on Thursday morning, Bafana Bafana players were whisked away to a shopping mall where they signed autographs and posed for pictures with delighted fans.
The smiles told a story of locals highly elated to see some of their heroes in person, and Bafana, having not disappointed on two previous visits to Mbombela Stadium, will be expected to produce another heroic performance when they take on Sierra Leone in their final African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday (5pm).
Two matches at Mpumalanga’s 2010 World Cup venue yielded six goals and two cleansheets for Bafana, a record that Pitso Mosimane maintained this week will be intact after tomorrow’s clash.
And he has promised that SA would be making preparations for next year’s continental finals afterwards.
Progression to Equatorial Guinea/Gabon 2012 is largely dependent on the outcome of the other Group G tie between Egypt and Niger, with Bafana needing to win and hoping the Pharaohs hold off the group leaders.
Mosimane preached this week that victory over the Leone Stars is certain, but he’s not without problems, though.
Thulani Serero’s participation in Saturday’s clash remains in doubt after the Ajax Amsterdam attacker arrived in camp with a groin strain that has recurred throughout this week, preventing him from taking part in even a single full session.
The reigning SA Footballer of Year has been restricted to jogging on his own and only a miracle would see him make Mosimane’s requisite 18-man matchday squad.
A verdict on his participation was expected after a training session at the match venue.
The Bafana coach’s problems do not end there, however. Not for the first time in this qualifying, he needs to fill Tsepo Masilela’s void at leftback, and indications are that he’ll pick Siboniso Gaxa, just as he did for the March clash against Egypt.
Gaxa acquitted himself well although he wasn’t really required to do a lot of defending in that match. He seems a more logical choice than the uncapped Punch Masenamela, the only natural leftback in the side.
Mosimane’s most interesting selection is likely to be in midfield, where this week he was seen trying the combination of Daylon Claasen, Andile Jali, Thanduyise Khuboni and Siphiwe Tshabalala.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone arrived in the country on Thursday with an 18-man squad containing seven players who started the drawn first-leg clash against Bafana in Freetown last October.
Likely Bafana XI: Khune; Ngcongca, Gould, Sangweni, Gaxa; Claasen, Jali, Khuboni, Tshabalala; Parker, Mphela