Bafana Bafana's Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup head coach Helman Mkhalele has urged consistency in his selections in his side's attempts to lift the regional trophy.
South Africa squandered a chance to take charge of Group A when the host nation failed to protect their initial lead against Mozambique on Wednesday evening where the tie ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
The COSAFA Cup is treated as an experimental platform for Bafana, where the technical team gets to expand the pool of players.
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With 23 players assembled, Mkhalele is expected to give every player a fair chance, but Hugo Broos’ right-hand man wants to keep the core of the team that played against The Mambas.
“Once we study the opponents, then that we inform us to know what type of players we need to bring in. At the same time, we want to make sure that we keep the same momentum,” Mkhalele said.
“I am not saying whether we are going to change or not going to change, but in many cases is that, as we go into the next game, we will try to first and foremost try to look how we can sustain the momentum that we have.
“Probably 70% of the players who started today [might play again] because of the match conditioning that they have gained and it will help us. Then gradually we will bring in those who have not had game time.
“For us to change the whole team at once, trying to give everybody and opportunity to get international experience can be suicidal because we still want to go further in the tournament.
“We will work hard to get to the next phase of the tournament, and once you get to the knockout stages, that is where you can bring in more changes and give more players opportunities,” Mkhalele explained.
South Africa will take on Botswana this coming Saturday at the Wolfson Stadium, kick-off is at 15:00. Meanwhile, Mozambique and Esawtini will face each other earlier on same day at 12:00 as Group A will shape up after the second round of fixtures.
Please note the upcoming Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup fixtures.
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