Bafana legend warns against underestimating Zimbwabwe

Bafana Bafana legend Shaun Bartlett believes there are no minnows in African football anymore as Hugo Broos’ team target a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Group C is turning into a tricky affair following yet another upset, with Nigeria losing to Benin on Monday.

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The West Africans lead the group following the win over the mighty Super Eagles. Bafana play Zimbabwe at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday looking to get their campaign on track.

South Africa come into the game on the back of a credible away 1-1 draw to Nigeria last Friday while bottom-placed Zimbabwe lost 2-0 to Lesotho at Orlando Stadium.

Speaking on Game Onm hosted by Thabiso Mosia on Radio 2000, Bartlett gave his thoughts on how the group is shaping up.

“It’s (the gap) definitely closing and it’s something that has been a discussion over the last decade or so. Look at what Morocco did at the last world cup,” Bartlett said.

“For us what has to be a priority is qualifying for the next World Cup. It’s been more than 20 years since we qualified for the World Cup (Bafana played at the World Cup in 2010 but did so as the host nation, without having to qualify).

‘We should be qualifying for every World Cup’

“With a country our size and what we have at our disposal, we should be qualifying for every World Cup and hopefully the boys will be able to do it this time around.

“We showed at the AFCON that we can compete against the best in Africa, which is great. It’s just a matter of being more consistent. Hugo Bross will be the first to say that we need a better performance and let’s not underestimate Zimbabwe – just because they lost to Lesotho doesn’t mean that we automatically have three points already.”

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The World Cup will be played in North America with Canada, Mexico and the United States joint hosts.

The last time Bafana made it through qualifying to get to a World Cup was for the tournament in South Korea and Japan in 2002.