Bafana Bafana
Furman keen to thank SA fans
2013-03-06 14:19
Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana midfielder Dean Furman says they need to thank the
supporters when they face the Central Africa Republic later this month
in Cape Town.
According to the
Footbal411.com website, South Africa played a friendly at Cape Town Stadium against
Norway prior to the Africa Cup of Nations, and although they lost 1-0,
plenty of fans filled the 2010 World Cup venue to cheer them on.
During the AFCON where Bafana played in Durban, the Moses Mabhida
Stadium was packed to capacity and the fans inspired them to reach the
quarter-final round where they crashed out to Mali via a penalty
shoot-out.
Gordon Igesund's men take on Les Fauves in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in the Mother City on March 23.
SA has two points and is third in Group A with behind CAR and Ethiopia who have three and four points respectively.
Furman believes Bafana must win their home games in order to make the trip to Brazil next year.
"It is a massive game for us and for the country. Now that the
AFCON tournament is behind us, our next challenge is to qualify for the
World Cup in Brazil," he said.
"That is the pinnacle of football, the world stage where every player wants to showcase their talent.
"We hope the people of Cape Town and South Africa in general will
come out in numbers to support us as they did during the AFCON.
"We also need to thank them again because it was through their backing that we were able to do well in the tournament.
"It's a fact that we had a great tournament, so we have to
continue from where we left off. Our performances were good and if we
return to action with that mindset there is no reason we should not do
well and find ourselves top of the group.
"We have some tough away qualifiers coming up in June (Ethiopia
and CAR), so it is crucial that we win our home games, starting with CAR
in about two weeks and Botswana in September."
"But also we should not be afraid to take our chances away
because we have shown that we can win on the road as we did in Kenya
last year.
"We are now left with four matches and should treat every one of
them as key to our aspirations of qualifying for Brazil 2014. But I have
great confidence in this team that we will qualify for this
tournament."