Manchester City boss Mark Hughes will bring his best players to South Africa for the Vodacom Challenge pre-season tournament featuring Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. "I realise that players such as Robinho could be playing for Brazil in the Confederations Cup, which is also in South Africa in June. But the Challenge is a very important part of my pre-season training. At this stage I will be bringing all my top players. But one never knows what can happen in the next few months."

Hughes, who coached Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena and striker Benni McCarthy when he was in charge at Blackburn Rovers, had words of praise for both of them: "Both Benni and Aaron did a fantastic job for me at Rovers. Benni scored over 20 goals while Aaron joined us in that January window period and played a big role in helping us avoid relegation that season."