Pitso Mosimane warns Bafana selection will only get tougher

South Africa begin their road to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations with crucial qualifiers at home against Guinea next week before travelling to face Eritrea, with hosts Kenya also in the group.

Mosimane named a 30-man squad, explaining that his selection took injuries into account while also beginning to build a path forward following the end of the Hugo Broos era.

"We had 35 players before from the preliminary squad and we had all the players that are eligible to play for South Africa but we reduced the 35 to 30 players. Not an easy thing to do, especially when you have to trace and check and follow all the players because I know you do your homework so we have to do our homework,” Mosimane said.

“Who we call, who we didn't call but you must also understand that we can't call all the players from South Africa, right? So, unfortunately I'm the guy who needs to reduce the size to 30 and it's part of the job."

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Mosimane admitted he would have preferred to keep the core of the FIFA World Cup team while gradually introducing new faces but stressed the main objective, after all, is to qualify for the Afcon. 

"Guinea first at home, very important, we need to win the home game. I think everybody knows that. Eritrea then Egypt so three games, last friendly game in Egypt, two qualifiers, very important everybody understands they are key,” the coach added. “To get Egypt as a friendly game is a big one also, we decided we need to go with the big guns because we believe we are in the same league. So, let's go with the big guns, let's see these other players that have joined us. 

“Some will be making their debut, some have played for junior national teams but as I said earlier that we try our best to keep the main team but you know we had a lot of injuries. We had about five players out from the World Cup team."