We need a positive start for Ntseki – Furman

While his SuperSport United teammates will be celebrating the MTN8 win as they have been parading their trophy, Dean Furman will be on the training pitch with Bafana Bafana preparing for the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Mali this Sunday in the Eastern Cape.

READ: Mothiba injury scare for Bafana

The former Oldham Athletic midfielder said it was important for Bafana to give head coach Molefi Ntseki a winning starting in his debut at the helm of the senior national team.

“The game against Mali is an important game and it is our only preparation game before the qualifiers next month. Whilst it is a friendly, it is a crucial week for us and we can hopefully pick off where we left in the Afcon because we certainly don’t want to start again. I think in our previous qualifiers we saw how important it is to get off to a good start. The win against Nigeria really set the tone for the rest of the group,” Furman said.

“One of the key things of promoting from within is that he is a coach who knows how we want to play, he knows how we now him and we want to carry off where we left off. We want to improve and we want to get better,” the 31-year-old added.

The Nelson Mandela Challenge will be Nsteki’s first game in charge and will be an opportunity to prepare the team for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers where they will kick-start with a trip to Ghana next month.

“To go to Ghana, know them very well, we played them in the warm-up and they are one of the giants of African football and it is going to be a tough game. This week is huge for our preparations and hopefully we can have a successful week as players and the coach,” said the former Bafana skipper.

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