Bafana gear up for Cosafa Cup

Bafana Bafana are eyeing success in the upcoming Cosafa Cup after the disappointment of missing out on 2014 World Cup qualification. Gordon Igesund has received backing from SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani to continue in his role as the national team boss and will lead South Africa in the tournament that gets underway in Zambia on July 6. Igesund faces a challenge, however, in selecting his squad as the competition does not fall within FIFA's calendar which means clubs are not obligated to release players to the national team. "In the next couple of days I'm going to identify a few players that I need from each [PSL] team," said Igesund. "If there are six players I'd like to call up from a certain team, I'll find out which of the players the said club can release. Perhaps owing to injury, there might be one or two players that they don't want to release, in which case I'll understand. "Working together we will get a strong team going to the tournament. "Remember, our priority is to ensure we are in good standing on the FIFA rankings." SAFA CEO Dennis Mumble added: "We are aware the tournament does not fall under the FIFA calendar and that is why we must respect clubs and negotiate with the league for the release of their players. "We should accept that the pre-season is the most crucial time of the season for the clubs. But we want to make sure that every player is available because we want to field the best team possible."