Quality and depth in the Bafana Bafana soccer squad have left coach Pitso Mosimane with a selection headache in key positions.
Fortunately for Mosimane, this is a good headache and it does not need any medication ahead of back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Kenya, who are coached by South African legend Benni McCarthy.
Bafana host the Harambee Stars at the Orlando Stadium on Friday (6pm) and travel to Nairobi for the return leg on Tuesday, where Mosimane is targeting six points to stay on top of group D.
Bafana lead the group with six points from two matches.
For his starting lineup for Friday, Mosimane is expected to go for continuity from the teams who played the opening qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea.
The forced changes are at right back and right wing where Mosimane must find replacements for the injured Kamogelo Sebelebele and Thabang Maseko, who were crucial during those two victories.
There is no crisis in either position because Thabang Matuludi started life brightly at Mamelodi Sundowns at right back and he is the favourite to start ahead of Thapelo Morena.
At right wing, there are a number of options in the form of Tshepang Meremi, Siyanda Ndlovu, Puso Dithejane and Luther Singh to take the place of Maseko.
Elsewhere, Teboho Mokoena and Sphephelo Sithole are favourites to start in the heart of the midfield, and Relebohile Mofokeng and Oswin Appollis are almost guaranteed to start as attackers.
Up front, Mosimane must choose between returning Lyle Foster and Iqraam Rayners when it comes to the leader of the attack, and Ronwen Williams will probably be the last line of defence.
The headache for Mosimane is at central defence where he has a tough decision to make because of the return of US-based Mbekezeli Mbokazi from injury.
Mbokazi missed the qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea and the friendly against Egypt, and it remains to be seen if he is going to walk straight into the starting lineup or start on the bench.
In Mbokazi's absence, Mosimane relied on Ime Okon and Olwethu Makhanya, and they helped the team to get the six points against Guinea and Eritrea.
The spanner in the works is that Okon has only played five minutes in the last five matches for Hannover 96 in Bundesliga 2, while Makhanya is ever present for Scottish Premiership club Rangers.
The other interesting thing is that Mbokazi played with Okon at the World Cup under former coach Hugo Broos.
There is a strong case for Mbokazi because he played in eight of Chicago Fire's matches in the MLS when he returned from injury in September, and he has regained the form that saw him as the best Bafana player at the 2026 World Cup.
Bafana have been in camp since Monday in preparation for the match and midfielder Brooklyn Poggenpoel said they were targeting six points from Kenya.
"At the start of the qualifiers, we wanted a strong start to the group stages by getting the results at home against Guinea and away to Eritrea, and we did that," he said.
"It is about securing more points at home against Kenya and we must follow that up with another good result away from home next week.
"This will see us going into the next round of matches next year with momentum and sitting at the top of the group."
