‘We know that a positive result for us in both games is one foot on the plane to the US,’ said the Bafana captain.
Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams believes his side are in fine fettle to go for two Fifa World Cup qualifying wins in the next few days, that will at the very least put them on the brink of making it to the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year.
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Bafana are looking to build on a five point lead at the top of Group C, and will play Lesotho on Friday at the Free State Stadium and Nigeria at the same venue four days later.
Bafana’s Williams — ‘We are looking forward to doing the job’
“We know that a positive result for us in both games is one foot on the plane to the US,” said Williams on Thursday at the pre-match press conference in Bloemfontein.
“We are looking forward to doing the job tomorrow.
Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has made several enforced changes to his Bafana squad for these two games, with some players out injured and others simply out of form.
“It is a new squad with a lot of new faces,” added Williams.
“But the preparation has been good. The new guys have settled in, we have put in a lot of work. We know how important this game (Lesotho) is and what it will do for our qualification for the World Cup.”
Williams hopes that the people of Bloemfontein will come out again to support Bafana, as they did in the 3-1 home World Cup qualifying win against Zimbabwe at the Free State Stadium in June of 2024.
“It is always nice coming here, we know the crowd can give us extra motivation,” added Williams.
“We have good memories of beating Zimbabwe here and hopefully the crowd can come again and give us energy for these two important games in the group.”
Playing away — but at home
The game against Lesotho is technically an away game for Bafana. Lesotho are playing in the Free State because they do not have a stadium in their home country that meets Fifa requirements.
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There has been concern about the state of the pitch at the Free State Stadium. Fifa originally wanted the game moved to the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium, but the South African Football Association announced this week that all parties had now agreed to play both matches in Bloemfontein’s premier stadium.