Online Reporter
WITH Bafana Bafana having the advantage of playing an away fixture against Zimbabwe on home soil, head coach Michael Nees has suggested another ‘privilege’ on the side of Hugo Broos’ charges.
Bafana would not have to travel for a crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Warriors, even though they are designated as the away team, on Friday evening.
Zimbabwe has settled for Moses Mabhida Stadium as a neutral venue, after their stadiums were deemed not to meet international standards, and as a result, South Africa would have the rare benefit of playing the Warriors twice in the country.
Other teams in Group C have raised concerns that Bafana would have an advantage playing an away fixture on home soil against Zimbabwe, who reportedly considered taking the game to Botswana to avoid this criticism, but they could not secure any approved stadium in Botswana due to scheduling clashes.
Ahead of the group penultimate encounter on Friday evening, Nees has suggested that South Africa have a further “privilege” of having most of their players locally-based and can prepare better for the game, unlike Zimbabwe, who have most of their players coming from different parts of the world.
“Our team is a very diverse team, in terms of where they come from, where they play.
“Our players play in Europe, different countries in Africa and that requires a lot of logistic effort, administrative support,” Nees said speaking to Gagasi FM.
“Basically the first one, two days we’re collecting players who arrived on time and rested, then you only train with a smaller squad.
South Africa is very much privileged, because 80, 90 percent of the players come from the South African league.
“So they always have one or two more training sessions than the other teams, which is a big privilege, so we have to compensate that with training quality, intensity and team spirit.
Zimbabwe have players such as Gerald Takwara coming from Iraqi side (Al-Minaa), fellow defender Munashe Guran’anga from FC Copenhagen in Denmark, Teenage Hadebe from Cincinnati in the USA, and Jordan Zemura (Udinese), while other players are coming from various clubs in Europe, mostly particularly the UK.—Kick Off.
