Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane believes his technical team has done its homework on Guinea ahead of Saturday’s crucial 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying opener at Orlando Stadium.
The match, scheduled for Saturday, 26 September, with kick-off at 3pm, will mark Mosimane’s return to the Bafana Bafana dugout and his first competitive assignment since taking over from Belgian coach Hugo Broos.
Mosimane has been working with a new-look technical team and has had to quickly prepare the national side for the Group D encounter against Guinea, with qualification for the 2027 AFCON tournament the immediate target.
The coach said the preparation has involved closely examining the players available for selection and understanding why certain players were called up.
Speaking about the process of finalising his squad, Mosimane said the technical team had to thoroughly examine the available players before making its decisions.
“We had 35 players that we had before from the squad, and these 35 players that we had on preliminary squad were players that obviously come from all the players who are eligible to play for South Africa.” he said.
Mosimane added that reducing the squad from 35 to 30 players was not an easy task because of the number of players available for selection.
The coach said the selection process was part of the job and acknowledged that not every eligible South African player could be included in the final squad. His comments were made when SAFA announced his final squad for the two AFCON qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea.
Saturday’s encounter will be the first of two AFCON qualifiers for Bafana during the current international window.
After facing Guinea in Soweto, Mosimane’s charges will travel to Cairo to meet Eritrea on 30 September.
South Africa will then remain in Egypt for an international friendly against the hosts on 4 October.
The Guinea fixture is therefore an important first examination of Mosimane’s return to the national team, with the coach expected to draw on the experience of players who featured in the 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign while also giving opportunities to some new players.
