Johannesburg – Wits defender Thulani Hlatshwayo says he is looking forward to playing in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Equatorial Guinea next week and hopes Bafana Bafana will get their hands on the trophy for a second time, after winning in 1996.
“I would like to win something with Bafana Bafana –, the Afcon tournament in particular. Zambia were the surprise package and won it and that's inspired us to believe we can also do well,” Hlatshwayo said.
“We won this tournament in 1996 and we now want to be new talk of the town by winning again.”
Bafana were pitted in group C against number-one ranked Algeria, Ghana and Senegal in the opening round of the tournament and despite the tough challenge ahead, the defender said Bafana did not fear any of their opponents.
“The good thing about this group of players is that we have respect for all the teams in the tournament but are not scared of them.
“We did well against Zambia, against Cameroon and we hope the same continues when we face Mali.
“These are big guns on the continent. They have big name players while we have lesser-known players but we are not intimidated. We are prepared to fight to the end.”
Bafana's Afcon preparations continue when they play Mali in Bitam, Gabon, on Wednesday. – Sapa