The national football team Bafana Bafana will have longer to prepare for their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Congo.

Apart from the Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch FC players, the rest of the 23-man squad will report for duty on Saturday. This gives them two extra days.

The Buccaneers and Stellies players will be in action on Saturday night in the final of the MTN8 before linking up with the rest of the squad in Gqeberha.

Bafana Bafana. Photo: Morgan Piek

The Bafana coach, Hugo Broos, said he is delighted to have been able to reach an agreement with the PSL in order to get more time to prepare for the must-win games, and he hopes this arrangement can continue going forward.

“I’m happy that the PSL agreed with my request because there is no competition game,” said Broos

“There is only the MTN8 final, so only the players of Pirates and Stellenbosch are playing on Saturday. So, for me, that was the reason why I asked to start the camp on Saturday already so we could come together earlier.

“So, if we should have been together on Monday, you lose two days. So, again very happy and thank you for agreeing with my request. I’m happy about it because yes, I know I’ve had some difficulties with the PSL, but I think they understand now also that we do it for South African football, we are not doing it for me.

“We are doing it for South African football, and you see what happens when you get the good results at AFCON … with the good results we had after we played, suddenly there was interest. Sometimes you have to do something for the national team and not always focus on PSL.”

The national coach added that he is delighted to have the goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams back in camp, and just being nominated for a coveted Ballon d’Or proves that he is a quality player.

Ronwen Williams. Photo: Morgan Piek

“I am happy that Ronwen is back – when you have a goalkeeper like him, any coach will be happy,” said Broos.

“Not only as a keeper but as a captain. It was one of the fantastic decisions I made when I named him captain. It has never happened before that an African-based player is nominated for the Ballon d’Or, which shows his quality.”

Bafana will face Congo next week on Friday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the first qualifier. The return leg will be played four days later in Brazzaville.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg/mvh