Can Santana rise to the occasion?

Under-fire Bafana coach Joel Santana gears up for his next challenge against high-flying Malawi in Germiston next week - and already elements are conspiring against him.

The knives were sharpened following Bafana's loss to Nigeria in a crucial African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier earlier this month, but the South African Football Association (Safa) stood by their man, and announced that his tenure would continue until 2010, with the aim of producing a team capable of holding their own against the world's best.

With Bafana eliminated from Afcon, Santana started the "second phase" of his Bafana career but saw his misfiring squad suffer a 1-0 loss to Guinea in a friendly.

'We are geared up for the game'
On Tuesday, Bafana come up against Malawi, who will use the match as preparation for the upcoming do-or-die Afcon game against DR Congo in Blantyre on October 11.

The Malawian Flames are equal on points with the DRC -but have a smaller goal difference - so the final group qualifier is a must-win if they are to progress to the later stages of the competition.

Santana, though, has other concerns. Because the match is not on an official Fifa date, he will be forced to look to the local leagues for his squad, but on current form, there are very few players who deserve the label "international class".

In addition, four PSL clubs - Ajax, Celtic, Platinum Stars and Wits - will be in action on Wednesday, so are unlikely to release their players.

Santana's task, then, is to assemble a team from available players, and run them through a truncated programme from Monday to ready them for Tuesday's game.

Santana is expected to announce his squad on Thursday afternoon.

Malawi, meanwhile, are upbeat about the fixture.

Coach Kinnah Phiri, who was previously mentor of Free State Stars, has included seven South African-based players in his squad, and says the friendly will not be a walk in the park for Bafana.

"We are geared up for the game, which will help us a lot to identify the areas where we have to improve before facing the Congolese," said Phiri.

Ranked 110th in the world, 40 places behind Bafana, Malawi are hoping to progress to the Nations Cup finals for the first time since 1984.

Bafana's last match against Malawi was in last year's Cosafa Cup, and saw the South Africans win on penalties after a 0-0 draw.