Bafana Bafana midfielder Dean Furman says they have what it takes to win the 2016 Nelson Mandela Challenge against Egypt on Tuesday, 6 September.
Bafana Bafana midfielder Dean Furman says they have what it takes to win the 2016 Nelson Mandela Challenge against Egypt on Tuesday, 6 September.
The clash will take place at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
Kickoff is at 19h05.
Bafana Bafana have won the past two editions of the Mandela Challenge, defeating Senegal and Ivory Coast 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.
Now the players want to continue from where they left off. The match is for a good cause with the proceeds going towards building a hospital for children – a long held dream of the late former State President Nelson Mandela.
“It is a great cause, the Legacy of Nelson Mandela lives on. This is an important game for us and something we are looking to win because it is something very special. Hopefully we will be going for our third victory in a row. Whenever we play a game for our national team, we want to win and this match has a little bit more added to it,” said Furman.
The two nations have met on two occasions in this annual event with both registering a win each. Furman is aware of the danger that the visitors pose.
“When you think of the 2018 Russia FIFA World Cup qualifiers, this is another important game for us despite it being a friendly encounter. Egypt are a top side on the continent and they will also be looking to get themselves in good shape for those qualifiers. For us it is another important opportunity to keep working on our team,” added Furman.
“Despite not qualifing for AFCON, our performances have been good of late and we would like to continue with that. Egypt has great players and we have to be weary of the threat they pose, and we will be looking to go in front of our fans and get a win to wrap up this international window.”
This will be Bafana Bafana’s second match in four days. They played to a 1-1 draw against Mauritania in the final round of the 2017 Gabon Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers – something of a worry to Furman.
“Ultimately that’s why we did not qualify from this group – to take five points from Mauritania and Gambia, with no disrespect to them, is simply not good enough for us and something we have to put right in our next campaign. We can’t drop points especially at home, we need to capitalise when playing in front of our fans,” said Furman.
“On the night against Mauritania we were a goal down and showed great strength to come back, but unfortunately we could not get that goal that would have given us a welcome three points. But we have to take the positives, I think the performance was good.”
Tickets for the match are still available at Computicket, Shoprite and Checkers for R80 all round.