Bafana Bafana silently add Chiefs target to AFCON squad

Bafana Bafana are stepping up their preparations ahead of the 2023 AFCON tournament in Ivory Coast exactly a week from now. 

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Bafana are set to travel to the west African country to participate in their first AFCON tournament since 2019, having failed to qualify for the 2021 showpiece in Cameroon.

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BAFANA BEAT MOROCCO IN QUALIFIERS

South Africa qualified for the tournament by virtue of finishing second in their group, finishing behind eventual log toppers and North African giants, Morocco. Hugo Broos’ men even went on to claim an impressive 2-1 win over the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup semi-finalists in their final match of the qualification campaign at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

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Now having named his final 23-man squad last week, where Broos delivered one or two shocks with the omission of English Premier League striker Lyle Foster due to an agreement with his club Burnley, as well as Major League Soccer stars Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Njabulo Blom, due to being inactive for about 2 months, the players that eventually did make the final cut have now all assembled at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport (SAS) facilities where preparations for their group E opener against Mali next week Tuesday have already began. 

THREE INITIAL PLAYERS ON STANDBY LIST EXCLUDING RAYNERS

Beyond the 23-man travelling squad, each country was allowed to add four more players to be on standby, in case of injuries to the initial squad. Initially, Broos had seemed content to add just three in Tapelo Xoki of Orlando Pirates, Sibongiseni Mthethwa of Kaizer Chiefs as well as Elias Mokwana of Sekhukhune United.

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Now with the teams submitting their official teams to CAF, an additional name was spotted, in Stellenbosch FC’s Iqraam Rayners. The striker’s form last season attracted the interest of Chiefs and it seems like it has done the same to Broos, who now seems to have added him as the fourth standby player for Bafana. 

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The national team are set to play neighbours Lesotho in an international friendly tomorrow, while they jet off to Ivory Coast on Thursday morning.