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Cape Town - Bafana Bafana assistant coach Owen da Gama said the friendly international match against Mozambique at the 40 000-seater Estadio Nacional do Zimpeto in Maputo on Tuesday will give him and the technical team an opportunity to widen their options by having a look at other players.
Da Gama, who will be in charge of the senior national team in acting capacity, hinted at a press conference on Monday in Maputo that he might ring some changes from the team that played and beat Senegal at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
Tuesday’s friendly international match kicks off at 19:00.
"We need competition in all positions in the team, hence we will use Tuesday’s friendly to look at other options. This is good for the team," said da Gama as quoted by Supersport.com.
The under-23 mentor said by virtue of closer links between Mozambique and South Africa in almost all spheres of life, there were many Mozambican players plying their trade in South Africa, and he knows that Tuesday’s friendly international will not be easy.
“Mozambique national team is a good side, make no mistake about that. They are young and improving by each game as we saw in the friendly match against Kenya at the weekend. They cannot be underestimated,” he said.
The coach also announced that defender Rivaldo Coetzee had picked up an ankle injury and has been ruled out of the match on Tuesday. Otherwise all other players are available for selection.
Meanwhile, Mambas coach Abel Xavier, a former Liverpool and Portugal international said that playing South Africa was part of the country’s ambition of building a stronger senior national team.
"Our aim is to build a stronger side by utilising all the FIFA dates. We want to play sides that will offer us a challenge and I am relishing Tuesday’s challenge," said Xavier.
"We are going to take this match seriously and we aim to give Bafana Bafana a good run for their money," he added.
Read the story on SuperSport.com
