SuperSport United defender Kegan Johannes has taken issue with critics who have described Bafana Bafana’s Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup side as a second-string outfit.
Bafana assistant coach is in charge at the tournament with Hugo Broos not on duty and Mkhalele picked a squad of mainly under-23 players, which has led naysayers to question the quality within the squad.
The national team failed to defend their title as they were disappointingly eliminated from the competition by Mozambique at the quarterfinal stage.
“Look, I was about to tell you now this is Bafana,” Johannes said.
“We are Bafana because if you look at it, these are the guys that will represent the country in the next five years to come.
“This is Bafana and we are obviously working on building that relationship among one another as players.”
Bafana did at least come away with some silverware after beating Botswana 2-1 in the COSAFA Cup Plate final on Sunday.
