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CAPE TOWN. — The African Nations Championship kicks off today and with South Africa hosting the competition for the first time, a strong showing is expected from Bafana Bafana. They face a tough group, however, with West African powerhouses Nigeria and Mali joining them in Group A, along with Mozambique.
And while they will be expected to overcome the Mozambican minnows, tournament favourites Nigeria will provide a much sterner test of Gordon Igesund’s side.
Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has assured the country his team will take nothing for granted in their pursuit of this year’s CHAN trophy.
“It’s going to be a tough competition, we are the hosts and I’ve made it clear that we want to do well in this competition,” Igesund said.
“We’re not being arrogant saying we want to win the Cup, but what we are saying is that we’re going to be a very competitive team and I think we can go all the way.
“It’s up to the players now to go out there and perform on the day and get the goals we need.”
Traditionally a physical threat, Mozambique will ask plenty of questions of Bafana’s resolve, but Igesund felt confident his team would be suitably prepared and ready to battle it out in the group opener.
“We’ve had some very good training sessions with the team and we will be ready by the time we play our match on Saturday,” said Igedund.
“There are a couple of things to tweak here and there, but the spirit in the camp is fantastic. Everybody is very motivated, everyone wants to be in the starting 11 and that’s very good for us.
“I’ve got a very competitive team. They all know that the competition is very fierce in the starting 11.”
Meanwhile, Igesund welcomed world soccer body Fifa’s decision to classify Chan as a level-A competition, having previously hinted it would not hand out ranking points after the event.
“If you remember, when I announced the team, we spoke about this and I said that there was a very strong chance of Fifa doing this.
“I knew there were negotiations going on between Caf [Confederation of African Football] and Fifa and they wanted to get this tournament recognised as A-level matches.”
Winning Chan would make qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) far easier, due to being a seeded team, should the country rank inside the top eight nations on the continent.
As in major competitions, seeded teams avoid each other in the draw and, as a result, Bafana’s route to the continental show-piece would be made simpler.
“I’m very pleased that it has happened. In February, we want to be in the top eight of the Africa rankings and we need to do that to be seeded for the draw (for qualification to Afcon 2015).”
With only domestically-based players available to Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi, he is shorn of many of his big names who helped to secure qualification.
They do have seven players who competed at Afcon 2013, though – which, of course, they won. There are only four players aged over 23 in their squad, but they will be confident knowing they have a good record against the hosts – South Africa have beaten them just once in eight attempts, in a friendly game way back in 2004.
Bafana Bafana reached the quarter-finals of the 2011 competition, but fans will be hoping for a better showing on home soil. With last year’s winners, Tunisia, knocked out in the qualification stages, the competition is wide open. And with the recent shock win over Spain filling them with confidence, Bafana Bafana could well find themselves in contention come the business end of the tournament.
Round 1 Predictions:
South Africa 2 – 0 Mozambique
Mali 1 – 2 Nigeria
Zimbabwe 0 – 1 Morocco
Uganda 0 – 0 Burkina Faso
Ghana 2 – 1 Congo
Libya 0 – 0 Ethiopia
Congo DR 3 – 0 Mauritania
Gabon 1 – 1 Burundi. – Sapa/SuperSport.
Online Reporter