Mosimane wants Bafana unity

Pitso Mosimane says ‘collective effort’ will lead to South Africa success at both the 2013 African Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup.

South Africa coach Mosimane travelled to Equatorial Guinea for Friday’s friendly without a host of regulars, made worse by the withdrawal of players from Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Golden Arrows.

South Africa – one of several big names to miss qualification for the 2012 African Cup of Nations – started five uncapped players in the 0-0 draw, and gave three more their first caps in the second half.

He was forced to make five more changes to the squad to face Cup of Nations entrants Zambia on Wednesday and Ghana on Sunday, but had his mind on the bigger picture ahead of the match against the former.

“We need to look at how serious we all are about preparing Bafana for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournament that we are hosting, as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers that start in June. We need a collective effort to ensure this team is ready for any challenge it comes across, we need more time to prepare,” he said.

“Some say we have better facilities than any country on the continent, but the fact is those facilities can only work to our advantage if we have time to use them, and at the moment we don’t have. On the other hand players are being withdrawn from the squad to go train with their clubs, when they could continue with us here and join their clubs later.

“The fact is that clubs have the right to do so, but we need to have one objective – to be patriotic and remember that the national team is priority. The leaders of the game need to get together and find common ground for the good of all.”

Mosimane spoke of the importance of January’s friendlies: “We are playing two great sides who have their full squads in camp, so it’s going to be a very good test for my young players, most of whom haven’t tasted international football.”

“While they (Zambia and Ghana) are preparing for the 2012 AFCON, I would like to see how much depth we have in South Africa – we have quality players but it would be good to see how they fare against these stars. We need to get something out of these matches so that when we go forward we know what kind of players we have.”