Bafana Bafana aim to make it fourth time lucky with Sierra Leone
South Africa will be hoping to make their fourth clash with Sierra Leone most memorable. Bafana Bafana have never beaten or scored against the tricky West Africans.
The two nations will again face each other in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier Saturday 8th October 2011 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
Kickoff is at 17h00.
In past three attempts, Bafana Bafana has found the Leone Stars to be a tough customer especially away from home.
But the Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane’s said his team will be playing at home and in front of familiar supporters.
And given that this is a must-win clash if South Africa is to qualify for the Afcon finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year, Mosimane and his team will be hoping for a wave of support throughout this week and on match day.
“We know what we want, we know what we can do and we will do our best to make the country proud. We also have the crowd by our side so things should ease a little bit and that alone should make them scared of us,” said midfielder Andile Jali.
In Bafana Bafana’s most recent clash with the Leone Stars, the two sides finished in a goalless stalemate in Freetown in October 2010.
But given the challenge of playing at Freetown’s National Stadium and that it was an important Group 7 Nations Cup qualifying tie, the goalless draw did not reflect badly at all on South Africa.
In 2008 Bafana Bafana lost 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Freetown in June, which was followed by a goalless draw the same month in Atteridgeville.
Only one player of the current Bafana Bafana squad has played a full 90 minutes in each of the three encounters with Sierra Leone – goalkeeper ItumelengKhune.
Nine players were part of the team that played the last match – Khune, AneleNgcongca, BonganiKhumalo, ThanduyiseKhuboni, SiphiweTshabalala, Bernard Parker, ReneilweLetsholonyane, KatlegoMphela, and Morgan Gould.
Mosimane’s men have been stingy at the back throughout this qualifying campaign and will look to continue in this vein. They have only conceded twice while the others in Group 7 have all let in five goals.
From this base, the likes of KatlegoMphela, Bernard Parker, Bradley Grobler and LehlohonoloMajoro can be relied on to score the goals.
“The pressure is on the forwards to get the goals as they will help us win the match. Sierra Leone will not make things easy for us because they also want to win and qualify. The match is important to both nations but I believe it’s more important to us as we are playing at home. We must just avoid panic and go for three points irrespective of what happens in Cairo. An early goal from us will be a great confidence booster and could set the tone for a positive result,” said striker Bernard Parker.
The Bafana Bafana players are confident though of making it one win, two draws, and a loss against Sierra Leone.
“We need to put all our energies into our match and go all out for victory,” said Wayne Sandilands.
Previous meetings
14 June 2008
Sierra Leone 1-0 (Mohammed Kallon 22’ pen)
2010 WC/ACN Qualifier Freetown, Sierra Leone
South Africa: ItumelengKhune, Bryce Moon (KatlegoMashego 69’), MoketeTsotetsi, BonganiKhumalo, TsepoMasilela, Steven Pienaar, KagishoDikgacoi, Macbeth Sibaya, TekoModise, Surprise Moriri, Terror Fanteni (LeratoChabangu 82’)
21 June 2008
v Sierra Leone 0-0
2010 WC/ACN Qualifier Super Stadium, Atteridgeville
South Africa: ItumelengKhune, Bryce Moon, TsepoMasilela, Aaron Mokoena, Bevan Fransman, Steven Pienaar (Delron Buckley 83’), KagishoDikgacoi, Macbeth Sibaya (LeratoChabangu 70’), TekoModise, Surprise Moriri, Terror Fanteni (KatlegoMashego 62’)
10 October 2010
v Sierra Leone 0-0 2012 ACN Qualifier
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