Cape Town - Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula says Bafana Bafana will come out of their Africa Cup of Nations group “alive” when the final round of matches in Group C are concluded on Tuesday.
After failing to get a victory in their first two matches in Equatorial Guinea, South Africa must beat Ghana here at the Estadio de Mongomo and hope for a favourable result in the other group match between Senegal and Algeria.
However, Mbalula is confident the team will prevail and qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.
“It’s now or never,” Mbalula told journalists at the team’s hotel on Sunday, following his arrival in Equatorial Guinea over the weekend.
“Despite other teams winning in this group, it is still open, and going into the last match we want to win and stay in the competition.
“This group has lived up to the expectation as the group of death. I have always believed we will come out alive from the group of death. Those who will die, will die and go home. But we will not be counted among the dead. I firmly believe the team will go into the final stages of this tournament and show their courage.”
Mbalula, however, said he will not call the team a “bunch of losers” if they are knocked out of the tournament on Tuesday night.
The minister’s rant after Bafana’s first-round exit during last year’s Africa Nations Championship (Chan) on home soil is fresh in the minds of the players and administrators, but on Sunday he praised the team’s progress following their unbeaten qualifying campaign under new coach Shakes Mashaba.
“We didn’t say we are going to come here and win Afcon; we came here to compete with the best in Africa. We are in the stage of building a team and the team has played well. We came here unbeaten, so our record speaks for itself. If it happens that we don’t go through, then it was not meant to be. There is always a next time. But I’m confident we can fight and realise our victory and qualify.”
Mbalula says he is sorry it has to be Ghana who Bafana have to eliminate to qualify for the quarter-finals.
South Africans adopted Ghana at the Fifa World Cup in 2010 after South Africa were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage.
Ghana were eliminated in the quarter-finals after Uruguay’s Luis Suarez blocked Asamoah Gyan’s shot on the goalline with his hands. Gyan then struck the crossbar from the resulting penalty.
“It’s unfortunate it has come down to us and Ghana, because we have a good relationship. We called them ‘BaGhana BaGhana’, but for now we will call them ‘Ghana’. They will again be ‘BaGhana BaGhana’ after Tuesday,” Mbalula joked.
Cape Argus