Injuries to four key players have left Bafana Bafana caretaker coach Owen da Gama with plenty to think about ahead of tonight's friendly international against Angola.
Bafana host the Angolans at Buffalo City Stadium in East London. But defenders Eric Mathoho and Thulani Hlatshwayo, and midfielders Dean Furman and Andile Jali are doubtful for the encounter.
The four were injured during Saturday's 3-1 win against Guinea-Bissau in Durban. Da Gama will have to shuffle his deck if they have not recovered in time to play in the Angola match.
"It's a concern when you have players injured but the good thing is that we have brought a good number of players with lots of quality, so we will not rush these ones back," Da Gama said.
"We had already said we are going to make changes, so if the quartet doesn't recover in time for the match we are still covered."
Until the current generation of Bafana Bafana players won something, it would be difficult to call them the greatest national team ever assembled, goalkeeper Darren Keet said yesterday.
He said it would be good for the country if the new national team coach kept the core of the team together and beefed it up with in-form players every now and then.
"It's a good feeling for the guys to be seen as one of the best teams for South Africa. Hopefully, it only gets better from there," he said.
Asked if he agreed with his teammate Kamohelo Mokotjo, who has been quoted as saying he is honoured to be part of the best squad assembled, the Wits goalkeeper said it was "hard to say".
"We've had a lot of teams that have done well for Bafana. Obviously, they won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 and the 2002 World Cup team actually did well.
"As a team we haven't achieved much so it's hard to say on that basis. People want a team that is going to win things," he said.
"I think we need a chance. We need a chance to get there and then we can see later what happens."
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