Bafana fear no one – Mothiba

Bafana Bafana fear no one and if the team maintains the same positive mentality, it can go places.

This is the view of striker Lebo Mothiba ahead of South Africa’s quarter-final encounter against the Super Eagles of Nigeria at Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday.

Mothiba, who set up the winning goal scored by Thembinkosi Lorch in Bafana’s shock 1-0 win over hosts Egypt last Saturday, added that Bafana needed to maintain the 100% focus and positive mentality.

“In the match against Egypt, everyone gave 100% effort and focus and now we need to keep that going. The win over Egypt galvanised the spirits and we are all looking forward to the next game against Nigeria. We need that positive mentality. The coach has insisted that we should maintain that positive attitude,” Mothiba told the Safa website.

“The coach knows what we need to do against Nigeria. The boss is in charge of that, we will follow his instructions. For the match against Egypt, the coach really pushed us and we are ready for Nigeria and we want to give everything.”

Mothiba has come under scrutiny from some Bafana fans for his failure to find the back of the net in Egypt.

“In the match against Egypt, we played South African football, good when the ball is on the feet but mine is to hold on to the ball for the strikers to arrive in the box. Mine is one touch and play the ball into space,” he said explaining how the winning goal was manufactured.

“The defender thought I would play in front of him for the goal but I outwitted him. I won’t change my style of play, simple and straight-forward.”

Mothiba said he was no under pressure to score a goal as long as the team continued to chalk up positive results.

“Scoring is a bonus, goals will come. It is important for the team to win, not to focus on individual awards.”

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