There are no two ways about Bafana Bafana’s Afcon 2023 qualifier double-header against Liberia.
Win on Friday in Soweto and on Tuesday in Monrovia and South Africa will be back to compete at the African showpiece for only the second time in four tries.
Failure to do so can not be tolerated and leaving their fate hanging on the final Group K game against World Cup semifinalists Morocco would be too much of a risk.
It’s crunch time for Bafana Bafana!
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) March 24, 2023
They take on Liberia at home in a must-win #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 encounter as both sides have lost to Morocco.
📺 Coverage starts at 17:00 (CAT)
In fact, given the favourable circumstances, bottling it from here would go down as one of the national team’s worst skande.
With Zimbabwe banned from international football and removed from group, missing out would be a disaster.
On to this international break’s opposition and with all of that said, beating the team ranked 140th by Fifa can’t be taken as a given.
🚫 ℕ𝕆![CDATA[]]>𝕋 𝔸![CDATA[]]>𝔽ℝ𝔸![CDATA[]]>𝕀![CDATA[]]>𝔻 🚫
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) March 24, 2023
Liberian national team head coach Ansu Keita says they are here to compete and are not afraid of Bafana Bafana ahead of their #AFCON2023Q match later tonight.
📹 #SABCSport’s @Velile_Mnyandu #SABCSportFootball pic.twitter.com/9t9rZbz0Ok
The Lone Stars will be led by coach Ansumana Keita for the very first time and we know that the “new manager bump” is real.
Following a standoff with players refusing to represent the national team, Liberia’s football association and stars are back on the same page.
In order for them to qualify for Afcon for only the third time and the first time since 2002, they are in the exact same boat.
According to Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, the Liberians have been promised huge bonuses.
And after the upgrade to the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium, the national team are also returning to play on home soil having played just one of their last 19 internationals in front of their fans.
So you know it’s going to be wild.
Broos will be banking on his rejuvenated attack to put the Lone Stars to the sword.
Percy Tau has seemingly put the injury problems that have kept him out of the national team’s four-friendly preparation late last year behind him.
With 13 goals for Bafana, the Al-Ahly man is still seen as SA’s most reliable marksman.
Our final training session @FnbStadium before we move over to @OrlandoStadium tomorrow. #BafanaPride #AFCON2023Qualifiers pic.twitter.com/e4nUBDVjOk
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) March 22, 2023
Usually playing off the right wing, he faces competition for his spot from in-form Orlando Pirates ace Monnapule Saleng and Cyprus-based Cape Town boy Mihlali Mayambela, who scored in the first of his two international appearances.
Alongside debutant hopeful Cassius Mailula, Broos’ man of the moment, however, is arguably new Burnley striker Lyle Foster.
It says a lot that coach Vincent Kompany wanted the 22-year-old with a seer hart in January, as the Belgian looked to add the extra firepower to his Championship leaders as they durk for Premier League promotion.
With the challenge of playing in Europe’s toughest league, Foster must take his game to another level and now is his time.
Under the tutelage of Manchester City legend Kompany, it’s expected the laaitie from Noordgesig - a “coloured” neighbourhood of Soweto - will come on in leaps and bounds.
His boss, after all, soaked up alles from former boss Pep Guardiola in preparation of moving into coaching.
Another serendipitous sign for Foster, is that Broos was the man who gave Kompany his first-team club debut as an Anderlecht youngster in 2003.
With all these influences in Foster’s orbit, Broos, as well as every Bafana fans, will be hoping the striker kicks on from here.