Former Bafana goalie flags biggest worry for SA AFCON squad without Foster
Former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns goalie Calvin Marlin has expressed his biggest concern about the SA national team’s chances in the upcoming AFCON without their star striker, Lyle Foster.
South Africa are in Group E alongside Mali, Tunisia, and Namibia for the 34th edition of Africa’s showpiece set to be played in Ivory Coast.
The much anticipated continental tournament will commence from the 13th of January until the 11th of February, with Bafana set to face Mali in their opener on the 16th of January.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos and his troops have been in superb form of late, having run 12 games unbeaten before their streak came to an end after a 2-0 defeat to Rwanda in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers clash in November.
WHY LYLE FOSTER IS EXCLUDED IN BAFANA BAFANA AFCON SQUAD
Despite Lyle Foster currently playing for Burnley in the English Premier League, the Bafana striker will not take part in this year’s AFCON.
Coach Broos, however, explained the reasons why the 23-year-old striker has been excluded from his 23-man final squad to represent Mzansi in Cote D’Ivoire.
“This is a medical decision. It’s not my decision. I spoke with Vincent Kompany for half an hour, nearly an hour. He explained everything, and I could understand,” Broos said during his squad announcement.
“The only thing is that he [Lyle Foster] still needs 24 hours, seven days of help. And we can’t give him that during AFCON. It was impossible for Lyle to be selected for AFCON. I repeat, it was impossible. It was a medical decision.”
CALVIN MARLIN CONCERNED ABOUT BAFANA STRIKING FORCE AS FOSTER MISSES OUT
Orlando Pirates duo of Zakhele Lepasa and Evidence Makgopa will be leading Bafana’s front-line in the Ivory Coast, as Foster could not make it.
With Marlin highly rating the two strikers, he is somehow worried about how they and other strikers in the country have been struggling to score goals.
“I watched most of the matches, and I realised how difficult it is for South African players to score goals. Some can’t even score 15 or 20 goals per season,” Marlin told FARPost.
“I think we lack the most in scoring goals as South Africans. We can’t score goals constantly; that’s the problem, and most countries [heading to AFCON] have good strikers.
“Look, when I look at our local football and where it is now, I ask myself what level of players we are actually producing compared to the other African countries. If you look all over the world, strikers score at least more than 15 or 20 goals, and that for me, I consider it as a good striker.
“Like, how many players in Bafana are playing in the big leagues? We only have Foster in England, and he’s not coming back for AFCON. He was going to help the team because he was scoring there.
“But, I still believe if we can play collectively, we can go far. We have good players. We just need one or two who can stand up for the team.”
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Story by Clifton Mabasa