Story audio is generated using AI<\/p>\n
Many have been left unconvinced by Bafana Bafana\u2019s display at the Fifa World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada, even questioning how SA qualified ahead of a star-studded Nigeria side.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I probably agree [with Bafana\u2019s critics] in a sense that the opening game…wasn\u2019t where everyone expected them to be,\u201d said Troost-Ekong in a round-table discussion with journalists on Friday. He\u2019s in SA to do World Cup punditry with SuperSport.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally they [Bafana] have a very clear playing style, and it was good to see that in the second game [against Czechia],\u201d he said. \u201cBafana 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\u2019t. So, they deserve to be at the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a> in their last Group A fixture at Estadio Monterrey in Mexico on Thursday (3am SA time)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be challenging for Bafana, especially because they will be missing some players due to suspension…it\u2019s going to be a huge pressure game. They were a lot better against Czechia, but it won\u2019t be easy for them to beat [South] Korea,\u201d the former Super Eagles skipper said.<\/p>\n