With Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana squad in camp preparing for the international friendly matches against Tanzania and Mozambique, coach Vela Khumalo is also fully focused and ready as another SA senior team prepares for the opening match of the 2025 COSAFA Cup at Free State Stadium on Wednesday. Kickoff is at 3pm.
Khumalo’s Bafana side will also face Mozambique on Wednesday and participation in all these matches and tournaments is to widen the pool of players for the SA senior national team that is coached by Broos. A big pool of talented players will make Broos’ job a little easier and it will also give him a nice headache when it comes to selecting players.
Khumalo, who is also the South African Under-17 men’s national team coach, will be assisted by Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane while Molefi Ntseki will serve as Technical Advisor to the COSAFA side during the regional tournament from 4-15 June.
Khumalo has selected some of the players who were part of Broos’ preliminary squad, and he has also recognised players who will be considered for selection in the SA team to represent the country in the 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from 2-30 August. He has selected players such as Mdu Shabalala, Aden McCarthy, Ime Ikon, Wandile Duba and Mondli Mpoto to mention but a few.
Today’s COSAFA encounter between SA and Mozambique marks the beginning of what Khumalo hopes will be a strong campaign for his side in this year’s regional tournament. Speaking ahead of the clash, the coach emphasized the importance of starting on the right footing.
“We actually had a good session. One will understand that this is not for the first time one is doing this. If you remember while we are here, I am the defending champion because we won this with COSAFA before and I was also a head coach together with coach Morena Ramoreboli back then,” he said.
Khumalo emphasized that the transition from coaching the South African men’s U17 team at the U17 AFCON a few weeks ago to leading the South African men’s national team in this tournament was not a significant leap for him.
He said the experience gained at youth level provided a strong foundation as many of the core principles, strategies, and challenges remain consistent across age groups. He expressed confidence in his ability to adapt quickly, highlighting that working closely with young talents has equipped him with the insight and flexibility needed to succeed at the senior level.
“From Bafana Bafana to DDC, from DDC to Under-17, from Under-17 to Bafana, it is not really much of a big gap. It’s how you impact the knowledge to these bigger ones (players). This is a talented team, but most of these boys I coached them at an earlier age. So, it’s a smooth translation for me.”
Khumalo revealed that the team is determined to secure a win in today’s match. Their focus and preparations have been geared towards delivering a strong performance, and he expressed confidence in the players’ mindset and commitment.
“What we want to see is us winning the first game so that we can be at ease. Then we can start playing exactly how we want to play, keeping position, and playing the philosophy of the country’s style. If we can keep to that and maybe importantly win the game, then we’ll be in a good space where we can try and explore other things, and we’re hopeful that we’re going to do it right.”
