By Obakeng Maje

Johannesburg- Safa squashed rumours reported by certain local football magazine that the game against Poland has been cancelled.

The South African Senior Men’s National Team (Bafana Bafana) will play Poland and Kenya in two international friendly matches. The first clash takes in Poland on 12 October 2012 with the second scheduled for Nairobi against the Harambee Stars of Kenya on 16 October.

Bafana Bafana will leave for Poland on 8 October via Zurich, and the squad is expected to arrive in the Polish capital of Warsaw the following day (9 octobe).

South Africa departs early for Poland to acclimatise to the cold East European conditions.

The team leaves Warsaw on the morning of 13 October for Nairobi via Amsterdam and will arrive in the Kenyan capital on the same day. They will have two days of training before playing the East Africans.

Bafana Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund says he is looking forward to the two clashes as part of his bid to put his squad into shape ahead of 2013 AFCON.

“Initially I felt it was prudent to play African opposition considering we will be playing in the AFCON tournament in four months’ time. But after seeing the opposition available, I decided Poland was the best option,” said Igesund.

“Most of the top African teams are involved in the

2013 AFCON qualifiers, therefore we had no tough opponents to play against. We need to play strong opposition so we can be tested thoroughly, therefore, after considering all options which we had, I have no doubt in my mind that Poland will give us the test that we require.”

“We even considered Egypt which is already out of the

2013 AFCON qualifiers, but they are on tour in the United Arab Emirates. They could have been great opposition for us. We are not afraid to lose, that is why we don’t need to play weak opposition. We need to be challenged so we can see where we are. If any of the top African teams were available then it would have been a different ball altogether,” concluded Igesund.

Igesund is expected to announce his travelling squad next week.

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