Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba says he is more concerned
about his own side's abilities than their opponents' as South Africa
gear up for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Boys will begin their preparations for next year's Equatorial Guinea showpiece with a friendly international against Zambia on Sunday before heading off to a training camp in Gabon.
Questions have been raised over Mashaba's selected opponents, with South Africans fearing the worst for the national team as they are set to face continental giants Algeria, Ghana and Senegal in the AFCON group stages.
However, Mashaba, who named his final 23-man AFCON squad on Tuesday, is preferring to focus on his own side's strengths and weaknesses.
He said: "We need not paralyze ourselves in talking about the strong points of Zambia - how are they on the right, in the middle of the park - we are going to sit without a plan.
"Let's look at the right, how strong are we? On the left, how strong are we? Maybe we are weak in the middle.
"This thing of knowing opposition... lets says today you go watch Zambia, they are buzzing, they play good football. But the day you play against them, they are zero - flat - and what are we going to tell them?.
"They will say the coach is misleading them. Lets keep the players fired up whether the team is good or not."
The Boys will begin their preparations for next year's Equatorial Guinea showpiece with a friendly international against Zambia on Sunday before heading off to a training camp in Gabon.
Questions have been raised over Mashaba's selected opponents, with South Africans fearing the worst for the national team as they are set to face continental giants Algeria, Ghana and Senegal in the AFCON group stages.
However, Mashaba, who named his final 23-man AFCON squad on Tuesday, is preferring to focus on his own side's strengths and weaknesses.
He said: "We need not paralyze ourselves in talking about the strong points of Zambia - how are they on the right, in the middle of the park - we are going to sit without a plan.
"Let's look at the right, how strong are we? On the left, how strong are we? Maybe we are weak in the middle.
"This thing of knowing opposition... lets says today you go watch Zambia, they are buzzing, they play good football. But the day you play against them, they are zero - flat - and what are we going to tell them?.
"They will say the coach is misleading them. Lets keep the players fired up whether the team is good or not."
