6 October 2017 – The President of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Dr Danny Jordaan, has wished Bafana Bafana, the Proteas and the Springboks the best of luck in their matches this weekend.
Bafana Bafana are up against Burkina Faso in a 2018 World Cup qualifier in Johannesburg while the Springboks will lock horns with New Zealand in Cape Town – both matches take place on Saturday, 7 October 2017. On the same day, the Proteas will be on Day 3 of the Second Test against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein.
“We are indeed a fortunate country to have all our national teams in action on the same weekend and on the same day, which means we are spoilt for choice in three difference provinces. My only hope is that they will all inspire each other to do well and raise South Africa’s flag very high up. This weekend it’s not about who you support, but about national pride. It would be wonderful to see South Africans wearing their national colours in support of all three nationals teams,” said Dr Jordaan.
The President had just landed from a weeklong fact-finding mission in Spain with several members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of SAFA.
They wasted no time and visited Bafana Bafana at their final training session ahead of the crucial 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso on Saturday, 7 October at the FNB Stadium.
Kick off is at 15h00.
Here’s what Dr Jordaan said in his address to the squad.
“We have just come back from Spain with some SAFA NEC members, and it is amazing how highly they talk about our national team. So there are some people who hold you in high esteem, and at the same time there will be those who don’t see any good in you – focus on what’s positive.
Nelson Mandela once said, in the life of every person there comes a time when you have only two choices – to submit or to fight, to give up or to fight. We all know where we are and we are faced with those two choices. In the history of this country, giving up or submitting was never an option, it is not in our DNA and it is not in our history so we are left with only one option, to fight. The contest is on the field of play against Burkina Faso and we all know this Group is quite complicated.
On Monday (9 October) there is a court case on the issue of the decision of FIFA – Burkina Faso went to court and they are challenging the decision, we don’t know what the court will say and it’s not a matter for us tomorrow on the field – there is only one issue, that we must fight and this competition is wide open. This is one of the few groups where there is no winner yet, but tomorrow is for us probably the most important match in a very long time in our history. So there is only one option and the other doesn’t exist.
Barcelona recently played in an empty stadium because of problems in Barcelona but their performance was as though there were a hundred thousand people, sometimes your performance must not be influenced whether there is ten or hundred or nobody, it’s what happens on the field, and the motivation must be yourselves.
You must understand that all is not lost, and we have a chance, and this country will change completely and differently. So I want to wish you all the best tomorrow. I want you to know that we believe in your ability, this is a team that you should have beaten in the first match already, they are going to fight until the end, but so must we. I want to wish the coach, the players and the entire squad all the best. Let’s go and fight, and let’s make sure we keep hope alive at the end of the match tomorrow.
We have been in this position before, we have done it and we can do it again.
Good luck once more.