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Bafana Bafana mix hard work with fun
Bafana mix hard work with fun
Posted: 2010-03-12 12:08
Its hard work, mixed with fun as Bafana Bafana get down to business at their Granja Comary training camp in Teresopolis, Brazil, where the city prepared a warm reception, along with a welcoming banner.
Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was presented with a shirt by a local council official while the local mayor also gave his countryman a hug, which is a greeting custom among Brazilians.
With a number of players still suffering from jet lag, Parreira opened his initial preparations by making all 29 players run around the field and then they had fun kicking the ball around.
However, since then the players have been hard at work, training twice a day under the watchful eye of physical trainer Francisco Gonzalez.
"For the first week we have to build basic resistance, this is where we can detect how much we need to do with the players. We do gym, field exercises and jogging. In the second week we will concentrate on speed and at all times we will increase the tempo of training.
"We have wonderful facilities here where everything is a walking distance, so we don't waste time driving around. And I can tell you it's tough but the players are motivated as they are looking at the bigger picture – the World Cup tournament.
"We expect that at the end of the camp, the players will be at a higher level of fitness than when they came here, and also have some experience in taking the punishment because the World Cup is a very strenuous competition," said Gonzalez.
Parreira, who has accepted an invitation to attend a special event at Feirarte on Sunday, after they play their first practice match against Volta Redonda.
Safa has also disclosed that they have managed to include another practice match during Bafana's training camp in Brazil.
The national team will face another local club Boavista on Monday. The match will also be played at the Granja Comary.
This will be the fifth match against local teams on the national team's programme – others are against Fluminense, Cruzeiro and Botafogo.
"We need as many matches as possible during our time here because these will help us to make the players understand what we want from them. Playing matches will be key for the team because when we go back home we will have gained valuable experience," says Parreira
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: 2010-03-12 15:01
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