Bafana not in good shape but I'll fix that - Mkhalele

Bafana Bafana assistant coach Helman Mkhalele wants to work more on players’ confidence and mental state ahead of their Cosafa Cup Group A final match against Eswatini at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow at 3pm.

Bafana have drawn their first two matches, against Mozambique and Botswana. After huffing and puffing to a 1-1 draw after leading at the break against the Mambas, Saturday was another frustrating afternoon for the SA squad, struggling to create any clear-cut opening en route to a goalless draw against Botswana.

Mkhalele feels the players don’t have the ideal match fitness as they had only returned from their off-season last week Sunday, just three days ahead of the start of the 2024 Cosafa Cup.

“We will have more off-the-field sessions because if you still remember, they only came back on Sunday (June 23) and on Wednesday, we played a tough game against Mozambique and another tough one against Botswana,” Mkhalele told the media during the post-match press conference.

“They are coming from an off-season and for us to push them, we will be breaking them and also killing their careers.

“What we will do is to have more of the off-field sessions to work on the mental state and when we train, it is not going to be a hectic session.

“We need them fresh for the next game not to have them physically drained. We will try to find the balance and most of the things we will be doing will be working on their confidence because I know they are starting to doubt themselves.

“I must come in and uplift that confidence in them to go out and make sure we get maximum points.”

The group is still in the balance as SA, Botswana, Eswatini and Mozambique have two points each after they all drew their two matches.

Bafana will need to beat Eswatini tomorrow to progress to the next round and Mkhalele said there are positives he took from their dull draw against Botswana.

“The character of the players, they didn’t give up. They kept on going forward and you could see that some of them were struggling with the match conditioning.

“But they kept pushing forward and also, in terms of entries we did enter the final third but we didn’t have full control and consistency.

“We need to enter the final third consistently which we didn’t do and also follow our plan that was to keep the ball players moving and making those runs.”