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Johannesburg – Bafana Bafana coach, Pitso Mosimane has lauded the Confederation of African Football‘s (CAF) decision to kick-off the last round of the AFCON qualifiers simultaneously.
Bafana will need nothing less than a win over Sierra Leone and for Egypt to stop Niger from winning for them to progress to next year’s tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Egypt have been accused of allowing South Africa’s other Group G rivals an easier qualification path by not fielding their strongest squad possible and opting to give their Under-23 players an opportunity at senior level. The practice is not illegal in accordance to CAF regulations, rendering Bafana’s claims redundant.
However, playing the matches at the same time would minimize any sort of other influences teams and officials may have in determining the results of matches.
“You wouldn’t want the other team playing the match knowing exactly what they require, so I think this decision makes sense. It is very fair and it will help us to focus fully on our game against Sierra Leone,” Mosimane told Wednesday’s The Star.
Although Mosimane prefers the match to be played on the night of October 8, it would mean that Egypt would have to agree on playing the match at the same time. If no agreement can be reached, CAF will intervene and determine a time and date for the matches to kickoff.
“Playing at night suits us better, because we are able to get a big crowd and impose our game. But if somehow we are forced to play in the afternoon, I have no problem with that. The good thing is that we will be playing at the same time as Niger,” said Mosimane.
Mosimane believes that Egypt will do the job against Niger and that is confident that if Bafana succeed in beating the Leone Stars, that it will be enough to secure qualification.
Bafana will need nothing less than a win over Sierra Leone and for Egypt to stop Niger from winning for them to progress to next year’s tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Egypt have been accused of allowing South Africa’s other Group G rivals an easier qualification path by not fielding their strongest squad possible and opting to give their Under-23 players an opportunity at senior level. The practice is not illegal in accordance to CAF regulations, rendering Bafana’s claims redundant.
However, playing the matches at the same time would minimize any sort of other influences teams and officials may have in determining the results of matches.
“You wouldn’t want the other team playing the match knowing exactly what they require, so I think this decision makes sense. It is very fair and it will help us to focus fully on our game against Sierra Leone,” Mosimane told Wednesday’s The Star.
Although Mosimane prefers the match to be played on the night of October 8, it would mean that Egypt would have to agree on playing the match at the same time. If no agreement can be reached, CAF will intervene and determine a time and date for the matches to kickoff.
“Playing at night suits us better, because we are able to get a big crowd and impose our game. But if somehow we are forced to play in the afternoon, I have no problem with that. The good thing is that we will be playing at the same time as Niger,” said Mosimane.
Mosimane believes that Egypt will do the job against Niger and that is confident that if Bafana succeed in beating the Leone Stars, that it will be enough to secure qualification.
