Cedric Kaze hails Bafana Bafana preliminary AFCON squad call-ups

Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has included Brandon Peterson, Bradley Cross, Thabiso Monyane and Mduduzi Shabalala in the 55-man pool ahead of Monday's final squad announcement.  

At last year’s AFCON in Ivory Coast, Chiefs did not have a single player in the team and Kaze says these are positive signs. 

"I think it's a reward of all the efforts that everyone has been [giving] because, maybe six months or one year ago, we didn't have any players in Bafana and now we have four, even though it's still the pre-selection," said Kaze.

"It shows that the improvement the team has made, as well as the players, who now understand the importance of that and we just hope everyone will be consistent.

"If the team is consistent and keeps going in the right direction, in the future we will have even more [players selected] than that."

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Meanwhile, Kaze also gave an update on the availability of some key players as they prepare to face Egyptian giants Zamalek at Peter Mokaba Stadium this afternoon, with striker Khanyisa Mayo back from injury and Gaston Sirino back from suspension.  

"As you can see, for example, Khanyiso Mayo will be available for selection after spending a few weeks outside of the field, and Gaston Sirino is back as well from suspension," said Kaze.

"But there are players that have been [ruled out] – [Rushwin] Dortley and Fiacre [Ntwari] are out for this game,  while Glody Lilepo and Aiden McCarthy have not recovered from their injuries in time for this game. But the rest of the players are available for selection."