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Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana will play an international friendly against neighbours Lesotho in preparation of their two FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Central African Republic (CAR) and Ethiopia next month.
Gordon Igesund's charges will lock horns with Lesotho on June 1 at Maseru Stadium.
"This is a hugely important match for us and we must thank the Lesotho FA for agreeing to the fixture as we struggled to get a warm-up ahead of the two important qualifiers," Igesund said on Tuesday.
"The last time we played a match was in March when we faced the CAR in Cape Town, so this clash against Lesotho will help a great deal with our preparations.
"We wanted to get at least two matches but we could not because there is no FIFA date available."
Igesund said the advantage of playing against Lesotho was that there was not much travelling involved.
"With so many injuries to key players, this would be a great opportunity to give other fringe players a chance before we throw them into real matches," he said.
Bafana will then travel to Cameroon to face CAR on June 8 in Yaounde.
The South Africans will remain in camp in Cameroon before leaving for Addis Ababa on June 14, two days ahead of their clash with Ethiopia.
"We have to remain in Cameroon to deal with the issue of the high altitude in Ethiopia," Igesund said.
"Ideally we should be in Addis Ababa at least 12 days or so before the match.
"But seeing that we are unable to, we have to go in as late as possible, play our match and get out before we suffer from high altitude."
Meanwhile, the Bafana mentor will travel to Egypt on Thursday to attend the 2012 and the 2013 AFCON tournament seminar where he will deliver a keynote address.
He will return to South Africa on Monday and is expected to announce his squad to play in the three matches next Thursday.
Gordon Igesund's charges will lock horns with Lesotho on June 1 at Maseru Stadium.
"This is a hugely important match for us and we must thank the Lesotho FA for agreeing to the fixture as we struggled to get a warm-up ahead of the two important qualifiers," Igesund said on Tuesday.
"The last time we played a match was in March when we faced the CAR in Cape Town, so this clash against Lesotho will help a great deal with our preparations.
"We wanted to get at least two matches but we could not because there is no FIFA date available."
Igesund said the advantage of playing against Lesotho was that there was not much travelling involved.
"With so many injuries to key players, this would be a great opportunity to give other fringe players a chance before we throw them into real matches," he said.
Bafana will then travel to Cameroon to face CAR on June 8 in Yaounde.
The South Africans will remain in camp in Cameroon before leaving for Addis Ababa on June 14, two days ahead of their clash with Ethiopia.
"We have to remain in Cameroon to deal with the issue of the high altitude in Ethiopia," Igesund said.
"Ideally we should be in Addis Ababa at least 12 days or so before the match.
"But seeing that we are unable to, we have to go in as late as possible, play our match and get out before we suffer from high altitude."
Meanwhile, the Bafana mentor will travel to Egypt on Thursday to attend the 2012 and the 2013 AFCON tournament seminar where he will deliver a keynote address.
He will return to South Africa on Monday and is expected to announce his squad to play in the three matches next Thursday.
