Jonty Mark We are disappointed, but we know the challenges ahead, said Bafana Bafana s Helman Mkhalele. Bafana Bafana s Helman Mkhalele is the last man standing to coach the team against Uganda. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix.
Helman Mkhalele will stand alone on the touchline as a Bafana Bafana ‘head’ coach when they take on Uganda in a friendly international at Orlando Stadium on Thursday.
Covid-19 has wreaked its havoc with Bafana’s build-up to this match, and this is excluding the fact that new head coach Hugo Broos is back in Belgium getting his second coronavirus vaccine.
That was always planned ahead of this fixture, but it was not anticipated that Percy Tau and Teboho Mokoena would be ruled out of the match after testing positive for Covid-19, or that Sipho Mbule would also have to exit the squad for Covid-related reasons.
South Africa begin their first step of their bid to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup when they host Uganda in an international friendly match at Orlando Stadium on Thursday.
Mkhalele becomes first of ’96 generation to take charge of a Bafana game 10 June 2021 - 14:34 Image: Sydney Seshibedi
Helman Mkhalele will make a small piece of history when he becomes the first member of Bafana Bafana’s celebrated 1996 Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad to take charge of the national team in an official match against Uganda on Thursday night.
Events have thrust exciting 1990s Bafana and Orlando Pirates winger Mkhalele, 51, affectionately known as Ncane , to being all alone in the international friendly at Orlando Stadium (kickoff 6pm).
Mkhalele was the final addition to new Bafana coach Hugo Broos’s technical team. He was not initially considered as the Belgian wanted former Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki to be his assistant alongside Belgian-Macedonian Cedomir Janevski.
Kaizer Chiefs have announced that Njabulo Blom has been roped into the Bafana Bafana squad preparing to take on Uganda in Thursday’s international friendly.