South Africa are seeking a friendly victory over Swaziland with a squad dominated by Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs players.
The match in Swaziland on Friday night represents what national team coach Gordon Igesund will hope is the first steps towards preparing for the 2014 African Nations Championship that the country will host in January.
And with nine players from Orlando Pirates and a further five from Kaizer Chiefs, it is a selection dominated by the top two teams in South African football.
Whether these players will be available for Igesund come January is a matter still to be decided, but he is pressing ahead on the assumption they will and it will provide an intriguing locally-based side for this friendly match.
It is the first time ever that South Africa will play in Swaziland, and the first time that these two teams are meeting in a friendly clash.
All three previous clashes have been in the regional COSAFA Cup tournament and have been won by Bafana, with just a single goal conceded.
And they come up against a Swazi side who have had plenty of change themselves, both in terms of playing personnel and coaching staff.
Swaziland interim coach Harries Bulunga admits that anything other than a loss for his side against South Africa in Lobamba on Friday night will be a bonus.
Bulunga had acted as assistant coach to the Belgian Valere Billen prior to the latter’s axing last week, and has been placed in interim charge of the side with the opportunity to make a major statement of his proficiency for the role on a fulltime basis against Bafana Bafana.
But having selected a young squad with little international experience, he admits that facing the star-studded line-up of South Africa is daunting.
“We started camp on Sunday and the players have been responding well to how we want to set out our game-plan,” Bulunga told reporters. “We know we are facing a tough challenge, one of the top teams on the continent, but we will try our best to give a competitive game.
“We know our short-comings and we are addressing those, any sort of positive result on Friday night would be a bonus.”
Much of the Swaziland squad will be unknown to South African fans, but the reverse is true with the PSL hugely popular in the neighbouring state.
“We have two players who have played in the PSL before, Wonder Nhleko and Tony Tsabedze, but the rest are youngsters trying to make a name for themselves,” Bulunga continues. “The average age of the squad is 24 and many will be hoping to impress to improve their chances of moving to the PSL.
“Many people here follow the SA game and so for us it is a great honour to have these players in Swaziland to perform. It is a huge step-up for us, the team and myself, but we want to make our people proud with our performance.”
For Bulunga this match represents an audition of sorts for the national team job on a permanent basis, though it would be a little unfair to judge him so quickly having only just taken over the side.
“I am coaching the team on an interim basis for now, but depending on how things work out, I could get the job on a fulltime basis. This will be a big test.”
