Bafana Bafana will give their all once N’kosi Sikelele plays at Afcon in Egypt this month.
Coach Stuart Baxter believes that his sons of the soil will show their pride and passion for their country, unlike their rivals, when they kick off their campaign against Ivory Coast on Monday.
With many African countries counting on European-born stars who have represented their birth nations at youth level before turning out for ancestral homelands, Baxter feels his South Africans’ patriotism will give them an edge.
After seeing his own plans to bring in a Swiss and Croatian youth international fall flat, he tells IOL: “Sometimes when you call together an international squad, you struggle to make it a team.
“Sometimes they bring with them flags from all over the world and we struggle, even though they are South African, to get them to play together, respect each other and allow each other to grow.
“The strength of this squad is that when we play the other nations is that they will have that problem and we will not. That we can guarantee and that is the best guarantee that they can give any South African - that they will make sure that they will sell their souls dearly.
“This version of Bafana Bafana will do its best."
Meanwhile, Egypt boss Javier Aguirre says his Mo Salah-led side are favourites for an eight Afcon title ahead of Friday evening’s 10pm opener against Zimbabwe.
The Mexican coach says: “We are the favourites to win Afcon. Egypt are playing at home, can count on passionate support and have Mohamed Salah, the best footballer in Africa.”