Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has confirmed that captain Ronwen Williams has been ruled out for the Eswatini friendly tie due to injury.
South Africa will host Eswatini on Friday, 13 October at the FNB Stadium. The kick-off is set for 6:00 pm.
Bafana will then jet off to to Ivory Coast the next day to face the Elephants on 17 October 2023. The players reported to training camp on Monday in Johannesburg.
These friendly games are part of Bafana’s preparations for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in January 2024 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers set to take place in November 2023.
“Ronwen is still injured. Already at the beginning of the week, we knew that Ronwen wouldn’t play against Eswatini,” said Broos.
“But we are optimistic about the game of next week against Ivory Coast.”
WHO IS LIKELY TO START AGAINST ESWATINI
With Williams ruled out due to an injury, AmaZulu shot-stopper Veli Mothwa is most likely to start against Eswatini over Ricardo Goss of SuperSport United.
Mothwa has brought a calming influence to South Africa’s defence and had a good command of his 18-yard box in the previous games he has featured for Bafana.
HUGO BROOS ON FACING ESWATINI
The Belgian mentor went on to explain that their ultimate goal is to come out victorious on Friday and won’t underestimate Eswatini.
He further stated that they use this game to see how far they are with their progress in preparations for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
“I think is an opponent that we beat at the COSAFA a few months ago, but this will be a totally different game,” he added.
“We don’t have to underestimate our overestimate our opponent. We just have to play on our level. That’s the most important thing to get good results and good performance.
“We will not be happy if we don’t win the game tomorrow, that’s for sure. It’s important to win because this is really a preparation for what will happen next month.”
Broos continued: “You can compare Eswatini and Namibia with the opponents for next month. Teams won’t come here to lose. They bring a good game to us. So, we have to be ready tomorrow to play that game and to have a good game.
“I will make some changes to the squad because next week we have another game but the goal of these two games is to prepare the team for next month and AFCON.”
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