Head coach of South Africa, Molefi Ntseki has taken a swipe at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for allowing Sudan to have more rest in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers ahead of the cagy encounter.
The Bafana Bafana after sharing spoils with the Black Stars at the FNB Stadium last Thursday will need a win or draw when they face Sudan to book a place at the AFCON next year to be hosted by Cameroon.
Meanwhile, Sudan, who has hit top form in the qualifiers‚ following a 1-0 home win against Ghana and 2-0 victory in Sao Tome and Principe last Wednesday, will need a win at home to secure qualification.
Sudan played on Wednesday as compared to South Africa who played on Thursday, and according to Molefi, their opponent will have the chance to rest for the cliffhanger.
“They’ve got the points and currently we have South Africa at 10‚ Sudan at nine and Ghana at 10. So I think the group is still very much open. And Sudan playing at home will always fancy their chances of winning and qualifying‚” Ntseki said.
“But I think from our assessment and analysis of Sudan and the players who we have in camp we are capable of doing well and qualifying in Sudan."
“We are aware that Sudan won‚ and we have the clips of how they won the game."
“And the expectation was for the four teams to play on the same day‚ at the same time‚ but we were very surprised to be told that Sudan played their game on Wednesday. And we are still to face the same situation‚ like what happened in the first leg."
“In the first leg, they played on the Wednesday against Sao Tome‚ and flew into South Africa that night. We had to play Ghana in Ghana on Thursday‚ drive through the night to the airport‚ fly to South Africa and arrive in the evening on Friday‚ one training session [on Saturday] to prepare and then play Sudan on Sunday."
“So it’s a repeat. But being a repeat it has made us much stronger‚ because this is a situation that we can’t do anything about. And the team is looking forward to going to Sudan and doing everybody proud.”