Tournament News
Teko hungry for success
2010-01-26 21:00
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Durban - Bafana Bafana can expect their captain Teko Modise to lead by example when the national side face Zimbabwe in their friendly international at the new super Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday night. Kick-off is at 8.30pm.
Modise who captained the “first XI” in the 6-2 romp over Swaziland in their training game played at the Chatsworth Stadium last Saturday is expected to retain the captain’s armband and lead the side against Bafana’s southern African neighbours.
Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira stressed that he would be making few changes to the team that started against Swaziland despite playing two different sides in each half.
Modise who has come under criticism lately of hitting a bad run of form for both his club Orlando Pirates and Bafana said he was back to his best.
He played a starring role in the first half against Swaziland assisting his Bucs teammate Gert Schalkwyk to score the opening two goals.
Modise said: “I have got my hunger back and looking forward to playing Zimbabwe. As captain I have responsibility on my shoulders and I accept that responsibility.”
He said the fact that Zimbabwe have eight PSL players in their ranks will not make it more difficult. He said: “They know us we know them. It is an exciting challenge and after beating Swaziland and we must keep the momentum going. The message from the coach to the players was to go out and win and enjoy the game.”
Modise said that the fact Bafana scored six goals against Swaziland shows that the players are improving and making progress.
“But we must cut out the mistakes that cost us two goals against Swaziland. There is still plenty of room to improve and that is what these games and the camp is all about.” He added.
On his partnership with Schalkwyk which is set to continue against Zimbabwe he said: “Gert is a top class player and nice to see him scoring goals. I hope that our combination will continue to produce goals for Bafana in the future.”
He said the two week camp which ends on Wednesday night had been tough. But he stressed: “We worked as a team and built up a good spirit. It was a good exercise and was a huge success.”
Meanwhile Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune will start on the bench. Khune disclosed that Parreira had named SuperSport United keeper Emille Baron in the starting line-up.
But the 22-year-old Khune stressed he was not disappointed, he said: “Emille has been playing brilliantly in the PSL and deserves to be selected and I wish him luck and will support him all I can.”
Khune said that competition for places was tough: “The competition for places is improving the side. That is the way it should be and this type of competition augers well for our World Cup build-up.” Khune said the training camp had been a tremendous experience and all the players had benefitted.