South Africa saw first Zambia and then Madagascar cancel on them as they attempted to schedule their first friendly under Ntseki during the last international break. Xenophobic attacks in South Africa were the catalyst for the chaos.
Barring last-minute catastrophe, Bafana will finally resume business on 13 October. Much has changed since they lost their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final against Nigeria 2-1.
We contextualise some of the talking points regarding Ntseki’s second first squad.
The two changes from the squad which was supposed to face Zambia seeMosa Lebusa and Themba Zwane come in for Rivaldo Coetzee and Lebohang Maboe.
Lebusa has found his feet at Mamelodi Sundowns slightly over a year on from his move from Ajax Cape Town. The versatile defender has become a regular starter with Coetzee one of the players in contention with him for a position.
Zwane and Maboe, too, are teammates and rivals for a starting spot at Masandawana. The latter has a promising future ahead of him and will almost certainly be back in the squad soon, but Mshishi is the in-form man at the moment.
One debate which has not yet been settled is who should be the starting goalkeeper for Bafana Bafana.
It is unclear whether or not Khune will be left out of the fold long term, but both Ronwen Williams and Darren Keet have impressed in his absence.
Williams will likely be the starting goalkeeper at least for the time being but watch this space.
Kermit Erasmus has not featured for Bafana Bafana in nearly two years, but that could be about to change due to his incredible form for Cape Town City.
Erasmus was named in Stuart Baxter’s preliminary squad for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations but failed to make the final cut.
The striker infamously tweeted that he was “no back-up player” when then Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba called on him to replace Tokelo Rantie in 2015 — a request Erasmus snubbed.
Erick Mathoho may finally make his Bafana Bafana return after being called up by Ntseki again. The Kaizer Chiefs centre-back was brought back into the fray to face Zambia after a lengthy absence, but that, of course, did not materialise.
