Mashaba announces squad to face Mauritania

“WE can’t go there and think we can take them on in their backyard and think it will be easy,” said the head coach of Bafana Bafana, Ephraim Mashaba. “They went down to Cameroon 1-0 only and that shows you their capacity.”

He has selected a 25-man squad for the 2017 Orange Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritania.

The Group M clash will take place on Saturday, September 5, at Stade Olympique in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

Kick-off is at 19:00 SA time.

Bafana Bafana drew 0-0 with Gambia in the opening match of the qualifiers at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

“Even though this match comes after a well-deserved rest, not just for the players but also for the technical team, due to the spacing in between, it has also killed the momentum of the team. But I have complete confidence in the players that we have selected and I believe they will deliver,” said Mashaba.

The Bafana Bafana mentor said he was confident of getting a good result in the West African country.

“Some of the players have been on a long break and only started playing recently, but I know we will get the result we want. If you look at the squad we have picked, it is based on the opposition,” said Mashaba.

Mashaba said people may look at the two teams’ rankings and think it will be a walk in the park for Bafana Bafana.“We need to drum into our players the fact that they should not look at the opposition and stop asking where Mauritania is. Let’s give them the respect they deserve. We need to score first and demoralise them because if they net first, they might make it difficult for us to come back. In short, we have to go there prepared so we can get a good result.”

The team depart for Mauritania on Thursday, September 3.