Carlos Alberto Parreira (Gallo Images)

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Jaco van der Merwe

Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana coach, Carlos Parreira, has derived a plan for next year's World Cup that will transform South Africa into a winning team.

Overseas clubs are not been forced to free up their Bafana players for training camps before the tournament, so Parreira has decided to round up a group of locally based players who will serve as Bafana Bafana’s core.

He hopes that they will form a cohesive unit during the training camps that will be held in South Africa during January, Brazil in March and in Germany during April.

"I take it that Steven Pienaar will have commitments until May in England. We must therefore make sure that in the mean time players come through the ranks to fill his boots at an international level," said Parreira.

"By the time the overseas players join us for the final training camp, I would like the locally based team to be a well oiled machine. By that time there must not be groans of 'Oh Dear' when one of our best overseas based players gets injured."

Bafana will have to exceed expectations in order to get through the first round of the tournament after they were drawn in a difficult group along with France, Mexico and Uruguay.

A further setback has also hit Bafana when Parreira had to cancel two upcoming friendly internationals in March against Chile and Jamaica.

At this stage, no friendlies have been confirmed before the World Cup.

"I did not have a choice to cancel the matches against Chile and Jamaica. The match against Chile was scheduled for less than 24 hours upon arriving for the training camp in Brazil," said Parreira.

"We will have at least six training sessions against local teams in Brazil and it will be of equal worth of that of the friendly internationals."

Parreira had also planned to play a friendly match against Uruguay early next year, but teams who are drawn in the same group are not allowed to play each other prior to the tournament.

"We will now have to look at playing opponents with similar playing styles to that of Uruguay and Mexico. Teams that like to play the ball on the ground," said Parreira.

"Almost all of the South American teams play in a similar fashion and that is why I think that Paraguay will be a good choice.

"I also planned a few friendly internationals against other teams in other World Cup groups, but most of the teams only arrive here about eight days before the start. The rules state that you may not play any other World Cup teams in the two weeks before the World Cup," said Parreira.

At this early stage, it looks as if Bafana will be the first host country to be knocked out of the World Cup in the first round of the tournament.