Bafana Bafana midfield star Teko Modise, is looking forward to another chance of playing alongside Steven Pienaar when Joel Santana's men tackle an out of sorts Portugal in Lausanne, Switzerland on Tuesday night (kick-off 8.45pm South African time).

The Orlando Pirates ace was waxing lyrical about the Everton star´s performance in the 2-1 Nelson Mandela Challenge win over Norway at the newly re-opened Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday.

Said Modise: "It was great playing with Steven (Pienaar). You can see his quality and how much he has come on while playing for Everton. I really enjoyed playing with him. I thought we picked up a good understanding and I am hoping the coach selects us to play together against Portugal. If given the opportunity, I reckon we can form a really good midfield combination."

Modise again said Bafana should not be afraid of Portugal's big names, such as Manchester United superstar Christiano Ronaldo, his clubmate Nani, the Russian based striker Danny who plays for Zenit St Petersburg, plus the crafty Chelsea midfield dynamo, Deco, who has recently recovered from injury and came on in the second half of Portugal´s disappointing 0-0 draw in Porto against hard running Sweden in a World Cup qualifier played on Saturday night.

That result — Portugal's third qualifying draw — dents their hopes of reaching the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, despite their big stars and head coach Carlos Queiroz, will have little option but to field his best combination against Bafana as he badly needs a morale boosting win.

Added Modise: "We have had to work hard to beat Norway who were an awkward side to beat. But we wore them down and boosted our chances of upsetting Portugal."

Queiroz, who left South Africa under a cloud to become Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson´s right hand man, and also had a spell as manager of Real Madrid, will want to prove a point to his former employers who axed him in March 2002. That after he qualified Bafana for the World Cup finals in South Korea and reached the quarterfinals of the African Nations Cup in Mali that year, losing to the home nation.

Had Queiroz still been in charge of Bafana, who knows how much better they could have been? Probably in far better shape than they are in now.

Queiroz had a 10 year development plan for Bafana which went up in smoke, thanks to the "clever" suits at SAFA House. He lost only four of the 20 matches he was in charge of Bafana.

While Santana is basking in the glory of the win over Norway, he still has a lot of work to do. His first priority is to find a partner in attack alongside Bernard Parker who has a killer instinct.

Ajax Cape Town´s top striker, Mabhuti Khenyeza, has disappointed in four appearances for his country. He failed to read the accurate crosses from fullbacks Siboniso Gaxa and Tsepho Masilela against Norway.

Both Katlego Mashego and Surprise Moriri deserve a chance and either would be a suitable replacement for Khenyeza. Kaizer Chiefs left wing, Siphiwe Tshabalala, who came on for Khenyeza and scored that wonder goal winner in the dying seconds, should get a starting place alongside Modise and Pienaar in midfield.

German based goalkeeper, Rowen Fernandez, could replace Chiefs' Itumeleng Khune who had nothing to do against Norway, except picking the ball out of his net after Morten Gamst Pedersen scored the equaliser with a free kick.

With the Confederations Cup just over two months away, Fernandez needs some game time at this level. He is more used to conditions in Europe and might get the nod from Santana.

Sapa

RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook