AFCON spots still open

Cape Town - Bafana Bafana's AFCON 2015 squad is far from decided following Shakes Mashaba revelation that "we don’t have guaranteed places in the team". 

Read: Bafana name provisional AFCON squad 

"The bloated squad means we want to give everyone a chance as we don’t have guaranteed places in the team; it is an opportunity for all of them to fight hard for the final spot,” Mashaba told safa.net.

Mashaba revealed that continuity played a part in his squad selection. He said: “The bulk of the boys in the squad are the ones who helped Bafana Bafana to be where it is now and we didn’t want to change much going into AFCON."

The national team coach put both those in the provisional squad and those overlooked on alert after hinting that those outside the current squad "also stand a good chance of making it" despite the looming deadline for naming his squad. 

“Änd for those not on the list, we can’t say for sure they are completely out as they also stand a good chance of making it." added Mashaba.

The national team is expected to gather for a "mini-training camp" which will take place in Johannesburg from December 26 until December 30. At the conclusion of the camp, South Africa will name it's final 23 man squad which will do duty at AFCON 2015.

The tournament begins on January 17, 2015 in Equatorial Guinea.

Bafana Bafana's Group C fixtures:

January 19 - South Africa v Algeria, Estadio de Mongomo, 21:00

January 23 - Senegal v South Africa, Estadio de Mongomo, 21: 00

January 27 - Ghana v South Africa, Estadio de Mongomo, 20:00