MTNFootball

South Africa will be competing at their maiden African Nations Championship after failing to qualify for the 2009 event in Cote d'Ivoire.

Coach Simon Ngomane has selected an extremely inexperienced squad of players, many of whom campaign in the third tier of South African football, as club commitments in the Premier League and First Division in the country meant the best of the nation's talent was not released for CHAN.

There are a few older heads, players who are deemed surplus to requirements at their Premier League clubs, but in the main it is a group of youngsters, with the eye very much n the future.

Pooled in Group A along with 2009 runners-up Ghana, Niger and Zimbabwe means this will be a tough assignment for the side, though they did warm-up for the tournament with a 1-1 draw against an experimental Swedish side, which was a decent result indeed.

FIFA World Rankings

Country	Updated 15 Dec
51 Panama	2
52 South Africa	-4
53 Honduras	3

Africa Rankings

Country	Updated 15 Dec
07 Cameroon	-1
08 South Africa	-4
09 Cape Verde	9