Bafana's Ghana squad surprises

Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira clearly has his sights set on the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. The 23-man squad he has named to contest the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana is proof of this, with several high-profile stars that might not be part of his plans for 2010 omitted from the line-up.

The Brazilian explained his selections by saying South Africa is the only country that is assured of its place at the World Cup, so he chose the squad for Ghana with "the big picture" in mind.

Bombshell
The biggest bombshell was the exclusion of Blackburn Rovers' striker Benni McCarthy, SA's highest ever international goal scorer, and a man who once netted four goals in a Nations Cup final clash against Namibia.

Much was made of McCarthy's return to the Bafana fold earlier this year; he was South Africa's most established striker on the international stage and had finished the English Premier League season as the second highest scorer in a league that had produced three of the four Uefa Champions League semi-finalists.

He is currently 30 years old and will be 32 when the World Cup takes place. Yet it seems age was not a consideration if one considers that Sibusiso Zuma, who was named in the squad for Ghana, will be 35 in 2010.

It is an interesting non-selection when one considers how much noise was made to bring McCarthy back into the national side when Bafana Bafana were struggling in front of goal, which is the aspect of the game that has been coach Parreira's biggest headache.

While McCarthy's omission is a questionable decision, only performances and time will provide the ammunition to deliver a considered evaluation of the move.

Exclusions
A number of other overseas-based Bafana Bafana regulars missed out on selection, including Siyabonga Nomvete (Aalborg), Siyabonga Nkosi (Arminia Bielefeld), Delron Buckley (Borussia Dortmund), Bradley Carnell (Karlsruhe), and MacBeth Sibaya (Rubin Kazan).

Nomvete might be considered unlikely to miss out. He has been in superb form for his Danish club, providing excellent attacking play wide on the right, as well as netting goals.

With Nomvete and McCarthy left out up front, and Zuma selected, the other strikers' places go to an inexperienced foursome of South African-based players, namely Lerato Chabangu, Katlego Mphela, Excellent Walaza, and Thembinkosi "Terror" Fanteni.

Promise
None of the quartet has yet had the opportunity to establish themselves in the national team, so their selection is based more on their form in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and promise.

Fanteni is arguably the most exciting prospect among them. He is currently with league leaders Ajax Cape Town, but set to transfer to Israel's Maccabi Haifa in January 2008. He holds the Ajax club record for most goals in a season with 15 in the 2006/07 PSL season, which won him the club's Player of the Year award.

Fanteni has all the attributes one seeks in a top-class striker and, at 23-years-old, his best years lie ahead of him. When the World Cup is played in 2010 he should be at, or close to, the peak of his powers, at age 26.

Under-23s
Speaking of the age of the players, Parreira's African Cup of Nations squad includes six under-23 players. Walaza and Chabangu fall into that category, as does defender Tsepo Masilela, whom Fanteni will be teaming up with at Maccabi Haifa, fellow defender Bryce Moon, midfielder Lance Davids, and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, the penalty shootout hero of Kaizer Chiefs' recent win over Mamelodi Sundowns in the final of the Telkom Knockout Cup.

The midfield selections feature players who should be in their collective prime in 2010. Davids is 22, Elrio van Heerden, Kagiso Dikgacoi, and Siphiwe Tshabalala 23, Teko Modise 24, Steven Pienaar 25, and Surprise Moriri 27.

Van Heerden hasn't played for Bafana for some time because of injury, but he showed up well for SA earlier this year before being sidelined.

Pienaar, meanwhile, after making his mark with Ajax Amsterdam in Europe before transferring to Borussia Dortmund, where his form took a dip, is starting to display the form and exciting playmaking skills that drew rave reviews in the Uefa Champions League.

He is currently on loan at English Premier League club Everton and the Toffees' boss David Moyes has been pleasantly surprised by Pienaar's performances, terming them "impressive". When he was signed the loan deal, Pienaar was expected to provide midfield cover, but he has instead won a starting place in the Everton team.

Defence
The defenders selected form a slightly older group than the midfielders, but not by much, and, again, they should be at an ideal age when the World Cup takes place. That, of course, is considering Parreira's "big picture", but they look like a solid group for January's continental showdown in Ghana.

Aaron Mokoena and Nasief Morris provide an established pair in the centre of defence, while Bevan Fransman has been earning rave reviews this season, and Mamelodi Sundowns' Benson Mhlongo recently received the award for the Telkom Knockout Cup's Defender of the Tournament.

Rowen Fernandez, who hasn't seen much action for Arminia Bielefeld, is one of three goalkeepers selected. The athletic Moneeb Josephs provides another alternative and Itumeleng Khune, only 13 matches into his career with Kaizer Chiefs, is the third option.

Squad make-up
There are only eight overseas-based players in the 23-man squad, which marks quite a significant shift from recent Bafana Bafana selections.

The national team has performed more passion and success with South African-based players in matches during 2007, but it's questionable whether the opposition those sides faced was as tough as the countries the mostly overseas-based selections faced.

Nonetheless, the inclusion of 15 local players has drawn praise for Parreira from local coaches, who have noted that the squad chosen for Ghana will still be around come the 2010 World Cup.

However, some have sounded a warning, saying the team should not be judged on its performances in Ghana. It's a sentiment that Parreira has expressed in a roundabout way.

A warning
By saying he believes hosts Ghana are the favourites to win the African Cup of Nations, with Nigeria and Cameroon as other teams that he expects to challenge for the title, he has sent out a message to Bafana Bafana fans not to expect too much of the national side.

His message is refreshing because many Bafana supporters expect nothing less than a victory every time the side plays a match, but it is going to take more than a simple change of coach to turn around the fortunes of a team that has been on a slide down the Fifa world rankings for some time now.

Even a World Cup winning coach, which Parreira is, needs time and support to re-establish a winning culture and build a squad with the depth, ability, and mental strength to challenge the top countries in the world.

With that in mind, some good performances in Ghana would provide a lot of optimism for a Bafana Bafana squad that, at present, is more about potential than proven ability.

Bafana Bafana squad

Goalkeepers