It's time for Bafana Bafana to keep their cool when they begin their Afcon campaign against Ivory Coast in Cairo’s afternoon heat on Monday at 4.30pm.
South Africa take on star-studded Ivory Coast in their Group D opener and coach Stuart Baxter believes his squad’s lack of big egos will ensure they are focused on giving their best.
He says: “There might be times where South African national teams might have been accused of not achieving what their potential deserves in the field because of not having the right focus.
“That will not be the case with this group of players. This group of players have very small ego and very great South African heart. They enjoy playing for their country and I am sure they are going to give it their best.
“We are playing against the best teams on the continent which we have in our group. We have to be better than they think, we have to be quicker than they think, better organised than they think and if we can do that, then I think they will then have to rethink their game plan.”
Bafana, who have never lost to the Ivorians in six previous meetings, will have to keep the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Wilfried Zaha and Maxwel Cornet at bay and strike via an attack led by Percy Tau, Lebo Mothiba and newboy Lars Veldwijk.
Baxter boasts a full squad to pick from despite Cape Town City rightback Thami Mkhize complaining about light-headedness over the weekend.
With the temperatures expected to soar up to 39 degrees Celsius, the boss adds: “If it is hot, we have to have a game plan. If it is too hot, you can’t press for 90 minutes it is not realistic. "We can handle it unless it goes out of the scales but I think we can handle the heat.”