South Africa’s Coach Talks tough About match with Eagles

South Africa’s coach Ephraim Mashaba has vowed to ensure the Super Eagles will not recover from the defeat suffered on Saturday in the match against Congo held in Calabar.

                                             ^{Ephraim Mashaba, Bafana Bafana coach}

Bafana Bafana boss explained in the interview to home media that the Nigerian team would be under immense pressure to beat his team on September 10, which pressure is the result of the 2-3 loss in the first leg qualifier of 2015 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), Premium Times reports.

 Mashaba’s was quoted saying:

“Nigeria will be under pressure coming off a loss at home. They are under tremendous pressure. No doubt about it. They have had some problems in their camp, administration problems. Also one or two of their players have not joined their camp so this all adds pressure to them.”

The Nigerian rivals’ coach apparently plans to employ emotionally tough strategy in the tomorrow’s game:

“Our plan is to take the game to them from the first whistle. They must not recover. All I want is for my players to forget about the Sudan game and focus on our current job which is Nigeria.”

As for the current situation in the tournament table, South Africa occupies the first plane in Group A after beating Sudan 3-0 last Friday.

Meanwhile the Super Eagles captain Austin Ejide claimed the team was working hard to ensure the victory in the upcoming match:

“We are prepared because this game is an important game for us. We were so unfortunate that we lost our home game, but now is an opportunity for us to make it right. We are prepared mentally, physically… we are here and I see a lot of confidence among the players, so it’s all out to win and [try pick up] the maximum three points.”

It would be recalled that after the match against Congo, the Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi expressed his disappointment over the outcome, mentioning however that no team can win all the time. He urged Nigerian to support the Eagles in the second qualifier to be held in Cape Town saying: “This is where we need the media and Nigerians. They have to be behind the team, so that we can go to South Africa and win.”