Stuart Baxter says they’re having to get personal with the Bafana Bafana players, an Orlando Pirates star, as well as Kamohelo Mokotjo being managed by his technical team.
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It’s around three weeks until Bafana’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations campaign gets underway against Ivory Coast in Cairo, and Baxter is putting his players through their paces as they prepare to leave for Dubai for a camp outside of the country, once he has picked his final 23-man squad.
Other than the injured Keagan Dolly, who has since been withdrawn from the side, Baxter has his full preliminary selection in camp in Johannesburg at present, and they have been training hard all week having jetted in from all over and Mzansi and beyond.
There has been a couple of players that have sat out various sessions though due to niggles, including Absa Premiership Player of the Season, Thembinkosi Lorch, however he was back at it this morning – unlike Mokotjo.
Speaking to the media at Steyn City, Baxter explained, “Kamo’s very, very stiff. He didn’t break until quite late… We want to manage him properly, so we’ve given him today free, and tomorrow will be everybody’s free day. So he’ll have 48 hours without any exertion – that should set him up.
“Lorch came back and had a day off yesterday. He had a bit of a hamstring that was tightening up, so we’re taking no chances. The same as with Kermit, he had a bit of a stiffness behind his knee, he took off one session and was back today.
“We’ve got those little things and you’ve got to manage them, and the challenge is that you’ve had players with varying lengths of rest – some with three weeks and some with three days – and on this camp you have to bring them all up to speed on the same level. So it’s got to be a little bit personal, one size doesn’t fit all in this case.”
Baxter and his troops will return to training on Friday, with the head coach expected to name his final squad on Sunday as they prepare to fly out to Dubai ahead of a friendly against Ghana.
