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Many have been left unconvinced by Bafana Bafana’s display at the Fifa World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada, even questioning how SA qualified ahead of a star-studded Nigeria side.
However, former Nigeria skipper William Troost-Ekong insists that Bafana deserve to be at the World Cup. SA, who topped a group that included Nigeria to qualify for this global spectacle, lost their opener 2-0 to hosts Mexico in Mexico City two weeks ago before playing a 1-all draw with Czechia in Atlanta on Thursday.
“I think I probably agree [with Bafana’s critics] in a sense that the opening game…wasn’t where everyone expected them to be,” said Troost-Ekong in a round-table discussion with journalists on Friday. He’s in SA to do World Cup punditry with SuperSport.
“Normally they [Bafana] have a very clear playing style, and it was good to see that in the second game [against Czechia],” he said. “Bafana were consistent in the qualifiers, and we [Nigeria] were playing catch-up from the first game, and we dropped a lot of points, so at the end they qualified and we didn’t. So, they deserve to be at the World Cup.”
As much as he insisted that SA are at the World Cup on merit, Troost-Ekong sounded unconvinced that the Hugo Broos-coached team will qualify for the knockout phase. In order to make it to the next round, Bafana need to beat South Korea in their last Group A fixture at Estadio Monterrey in Mexico on Thursday (3am SA time)
“It’s going to be challenging for Bafana, especially because they will be missing some players due to suspension…it’s going to be a huge pressure game. They were a lot better against Czechia, but it won’t be easy for them to beat [South] Korea,” the former Super Eagles skipper said.
Bafana will have to soldier on against the Asian nation without veteran playmaker Themba Zwane and influential midfielder Teboho Mokoena, as the pair are suspended.
Sowetan