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The two countries will face each other on Saturday at the National Stadium in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. Kickoff has been brought forward to 5pm (SA, CAT, GMT+2) due to a live television broadcast.
Addressing a media gathering at the Tanzania Football Federation on Friday, the South African head coach emphasised that while he has brought a young inexperienced side he was hopeful of victory.
“In this squad, we have only six players who have played for Bafana Bafana before, so the rest are still uncapped. But I can tell you now we have brought a decent team that I know will compete very well against a strong Taifa Stars (Tanzania). "That we are ranked higher than Tanzania is neither here nor there, on the field of play rankings don’t really matter and if we concentrate on the standings we will be in big trouble. Also don’t take anything away from this match because the international experience my young players will get will be very invaluable,” said Mosimane.
Tanzania are also using the match to prepare for their next 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Their coach Jan Poulsen says he will also be without some of his regulars for this match. He also addressed the media with Mosimane.
“The Tanzanian League ended on the 10th of April, so since then there have not been any active players, so this match is really important for us considering our AFCON clash against Central Africa next month. " We have already played Kenya, now we up against South Africa and I am hoping to have another friendly before the Central Africa Afcon qualifier. It’s also important for Tanzania to play the best of Africa, Asia and Europe so we can improve, playing our neighbours only is not enough we need to venture out.
"This match against South Africa, which we all know as one of the best sides on the continent will help gauge where we are in terms of improvement. It is very important that we play at a very high level. I will also be without some of my players based abroad because the date is not on the Fifa calendar, but we have to go out there and do our best,” said Poulsen.
