Seven Debutants In Bafana XI

Seven uncapped players will start for Bafana Bafana in today’s international friendly against Uganda.

The withdrawals of Percy Tau and five other players from the Bafana Bafana squad, have taken away a lot of international experience from the squad.

It was already originally quite an inexperienced squad named by new Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, and the 19 man squad had just international 136 caps between them.

But now following the withdrawals of Percy Tau, who was the most capped player with 30 appearances, Teboho Mokoena, Sipho Mbule, Mosa Lebusa, Mthobi Mvala and Rivaldo Coetzee, the squad is even less experienced, as they lose 56 caps between those players.

Five uncapped players, Njabulo Ngcobo, Denwin Farmer, Sphelele Mkhulise, Ethan Brooks and Evidence Makgopa were called up to what is now an 18 man squad.

There are now just 80 caps in total in the squad, with Keagan Dolly the most experienced with 19, while Ronwen Williams has 18. With the four new joining, there are now eight uncapped players in total.

Thursday’s starting XI includes seven uncapped players, while the overall line-up only has 40 caps between them. Keegan Dolly and Thabang Monare were not named in the match day squad.

Substitutes:

Bruce Bvuma – Kaizer Chiefs – 3 caps

Aubrey Modiba- Mamelodi Sundowns – 11 caps, 2 goals

Njabulo Ngcobo – Swallows – uncapped

Thabiso Kutumela – Maritzburg United – 5 caps, 2 goals

Evidence Makgopa – Baroka – uncapped

Njabulo Blom – Kaizer Chiefs – uncapped

Not in match-day squad:

Keegan Dolly – Montpellier – 19 caps, 3 goals

Thabang Monare – Orlando Pirates – 2 caps

Broos will not be on the bench for this friendly, as he had to return home to Belgium to receive his second Covid-19 vaccine shot.

South African assistant Helman Mkhalele will lead the squad, while Macedonian-born Čedomir Janevski tested positive for Covid-19.