{"id":313,"date":"2025-07-30T20:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/?p=313"},"modified":"2025-07-30T20:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:02:59","slug":"ntseki-happy-with-the-progress-his-players-are-making-ahead-of-chan-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/ntseki-happy-with-the-progress-his-players-are-making-ahead-of-chan-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Ntseki happy with the progress his players are making ahead of CHAN tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<header id=\"masthead\" class=\"sticky is-undocked\">\n<div class=\"site-header container\">\n<nav id=\"site-navigation\" class=\"main-navigation\" aria-label=\"Main menu\">\n<div class=\"primary-menu-container is-flex is-align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"menu-header-container\">\n<p>Coach Molefi Ntseki is happy with the progress that his players have made as South Africa continues to prepare for next month\u2019s African Nations Championship (CHAN) in the East of Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<article class=\"post-39817 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-bafana-bafana category-general-news category-home-top-featured category-national-men category-news\">\n<div class=\"post-inner\">\n<div id=\"post-39817\" class=\"post-content container\">\n<p>The CHAN tournament will be held in East Africa in three countries \u2013 Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda \u2013 between 2-30 August 2025 and Ntseki\u2019s charges played a training match against Angola (it ended in a 1-1 draw) behind closed doors at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday morning as part of their preparations.<\/p>\n<p>They have been in camp in Johannesburg since last week and Ntseki said while getting the players he wanted for this tournament was a challenge, the personnel he has in camp with him have put their hands up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has always been a challenge to select (CHAN squads) and this has been the case from our first (qualifier) against Egypt (in March) and then the game against Malawi (in May), but I think the players that were made available for selection are quality, and players that are very proud to be selected and to be part of this team. You can tell from the attitude and the work rate of the players that we have had since we started with the qualifiers and the game we played today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have got 15 players (in the team) that are unattached, but it is not because of a lack of quality from their side. There are many other reasons why these players are not attached, and these are good quality players. They\u2019ve been in the league for more than five and ten seasons, so you can\u2019t go wrong if ever you have these types of players that are part of the team going into CHAN. So, I am very, very impressed and very happy to have this group.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"post-39817\" class=\"post-content container\">\n<p>Keagan Dolly said he was excited when he received the call to join the CHAN-bound team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t say no, and I didn\u2019t even hesitate, you know, when the call-up came. Since Friday, the conversation (in the camp) is that we want to win it for ourselves as individuals and also for the country, you know, to make history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re focusing on now and just taking each day as it comes. I think this is our fourth day together, so I think we\u2019re improving as a team and individuals. I\u2019ll say it again, it\u2019s always an honour and a privilege to wear these colours. You know, not a lot of people get the opportunity to represent their country, especially in a country that has many young boys who aspire to be professional footballers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot a lot of people get this opportunity. So, when it came, I told you I didn\u2019t hesitate. I always want to represent the country and no matter the level, you know. I always want to be there and try to achieve as an individual and, you know, just be a part of a special group like this who has the opportunity now to create history also.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-footer container\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coach Molefi Ntseki is happy with the progress that his players have made as South<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecmessenger.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}