DURBAN - BAFANA Bafana assistant coach Morena Ramoreboli believes that his side have done what they have needed to do so far in the Cosafa Cup.
The 3-0 win over Mozambique on Friday earned them entry into the final of the Southern African football competition where they will play against Senegal at the Nelson Mandela Stadium this afternoon.
“We are all excited that we are in the final. I believe that we have done well so far. It is important for us to win the trophy. We need to remain focused and happy and I believe that we will make the South African public happy. When we first arrived here, we knew we would have to play six matches to win the trophy. Our first target was not to concede which we have done well and we also wanted to play entertaining football which we are doing,” said Ramoreboli. While Bafana have been decent in the tournament so far with fringe players putting their hands up for future selection, they could face their most challenging test yet in the final as they take on Senegal, widely regarded as one of Africa’s best teams.
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Senegal reached the final following a penalty shootout win over Eswatini and Ramoreboli believes that his troops will be up against a “good team”.
“They are a playing team and aggressive in the final third. After looking at their game against Eswatini, they showed aggressive goals in the final third. These are aspects that we have to deal with and make sure that we are properly prepared,” said Ramoreboli. South Africa made several line-up changes in recent games, while maintaining a winning record, but Ramoreboli hinted that that will not be the case in the final.
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“We will look deep into Senegal’s game. The type of opponents we play informs the type of players that we use. There will be few changes in the final as we are playing Senegal which means a different game as compared to when we played Mozambique or Lesotho,” said Ramoreboli.
The star of the tournament so far for Bafana has been Sekhukhune United’s Yusuf Maart.
The 26-year-old has won two Man of the Match awards in succession.
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