8 September 2014 - Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has challenged his charges to forget about the politics surrounding the Nigeria game, calling them to psyche themselves up for one of the biggest games of their lives.
Addressing members of the media after the morning training session at Athlone Stadium on Monday, Mashaba said the issue of whether Nigeria would be banned or not by the world football governing body, FIFA was neither here nor there as far as the team’s training regime was concerned.
“As far as I am concerned, we will play Nigeria on Wednesday and we are ready to go to battle and it is a big one and I have told my boys to up their game, come Wednesday,” said Mashaba.
The Bafana Bafana mentor said the good thing about Wednesday’s game was the fact that the boys had removed pressure off themselves by winning against Sudan in Khartoum last Friday.
Addressing members of the media after the morning training session at Athlone Stadium on Monday, Mashaba said the issue of whether Nigeria would be banned or not by the world football governing body, FIFA was neither here nor there as far as the team’s training regime was concerned.
“As far as I am concerned, we will play Nigeria on Wednesday and we are ready to go to battle and it is a big one and I have told my boys to up their game, come Wednesday,” said Mashaba.
The Bafana Bafana mentor said the good thing about Wednesday’s game was the fact that the boys had removed pressure off themselves by winning against Sudan in Khartoum last Friday.
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“The 3-0 win was critical but now we need to be even more clinical if we are to follow up our win on Friday. It won’t be a technical match; they are going to be fighting as well. We all know what Nigerians can do,” Mashaba cautioned, adding that he had lots of confidence with the kind of players that he had assembled. “We should be in a position to get something out of the game.”
Second half replacement, Sibusiso Vilakazi, came on eight minutes into the second period and scored a superb brace to send South Africa on their way three days ago, and Mashaba hinted that he was resisting the temptation to include Vilakazi in his starting line-up as a result of the Wits’ midfielder’s heroics.
“In modern football, that is what we call a tactical move. You don’t throw all your good players from the word go. You throw them from the bench when the opposition is tiring. All three subs that came on paid dividends. It was like they were saying; we want to show the coach that we don’t belong to the bench,” added Mashaba.
Apart from Andile Jali, who is nursing a slight knock, Bafana Bafana medical team has given the squad a clean bill of health.
Second half replacement, Sibusiso Vilakazi, came on eight minutes into the second period and scored a superb brace to send South Africa on their way three days ago, and Mashaba hinted that he was resisting the temptation to include Vilakazi in his starting line-up as a result of the Wits’ midfielder’s heroics.
“In modern football, that is what we call a tactical move. You don’t throw all your good players from the word go. You throw them from the bench when the opposition is tiring. All three subs that came on paid dividends. It was like they were saying; we want to show the coach that we don’t belong to the bench,” added Mashaba.
Apart from Andile Jali, who is nursing a slight knock, Bafana Bafana medical team has given the squad a clean bill of health.
By: Editor
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