Two squads for Bafana

Things should be interesting because the Brazilian mentor looks to be moving into a new phase with the senior national team.

“When we took over early this year we found the team left by Pitso [Mosimane] and Khabo [Zondo] and we kept as it was while slowly changing it,” Parreira tells Kick Off.

The Bafana squad warm up ahead of their match against Zambia

“Now after these coming two games and the friendly against Lesotho at the end of the month, there are going to be a lot of new things and changes before we make the final plans for the African Nations Cup squad to go to Ghana in January.

“I have told the players already that some of them will not be selected, so some already know what's going to happen to them,”

So who are some the players likely to get the chop and those who are promising well for the future?

Well, for starters, expect some serious jockeying between the netminders. There are no dead certs yet for Ghana or for 2010.”

“Oh Josephs, he has given us a good impression recently, he will have his time, our eyes are not closed,” Parreira commented after an enquiry on the chances of BidVest's Wits agile personality keeper Moneeb Josephs, who captained Bafana to their second Cosafa Cup win against Zambia two weeks ago after wrestling the number one jersey from former Kaizer Chiefs hero Rowen Fernandez.

“Fernandez played well against Zambia and Congo in the early Nations Cup qualifiers, but going to Germany didn’t help him. He is training well, but not playing. It is a handicap. The Sundowns’ goalkeeper [Brian] Baloyi is doing a good job but he’s 33 and Calvin Marlin is also over 30.”

And who will be doing the defending, manning and running the midfield or tucking away the goals beside Benni McCarthy as Operation 2010 slowly but surely gathers momentum?

“We want to open up our vision now,” Parreira continued.

“From the Lesotho game onwards there won't be many players coming in except when we see a good player and sometimes we need to follow him for two or three games. It happens that a player looks good in one game but then he drops again.”

But former Benoni Premier United starlet leftback-midfielder Tsepo Masilela, now of Maccabi Haifa in Israel, received accolades from Parreira.

“We like Tsepo a lot and he’s still very much in our plans.”

But if Parreira was raving about Masilela, arguably one of South Africa’s few truly up-and-coming class players, he wasn't so complimentary about overall local quality after watching Sundowns beating Pirates at Loftus last Sunday.

“Here we see every game player exhausted or going down with cramp every 10 minutes. There are too many stoppages.”

And back to Bafana's last major test of the year next Saturday: how will they fare against the Stars and Stripes, the 2007 Gold Cup winners, and who knows, possible Confederations Cup opponents in 2009?

“I have some people who keep me abreast of developments there, but so far they have told me there is nothing coming out from the Press so we will see what kind of team they will bringing,” Parreira, who coached in the MLS in the late ’90s told Kick Off.

“The US has improved technically and they have some good players. like DaMarcus Beasly and Landon Donovan whom I know well and goalkeeper Kasey Keller.”