Prices cut for do-or-die match

Having learnt the hard way with just 20,000 fans attending Bafana Bafana’s last World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso‚ the South African Football Association (Safa) has already started selling tickets for November’s clash against Senegal.

Safa released details of ticket sale venues and prices on Wednesday‚ a full three weeks before Bafana’s all-important match against Senegal on November 10 at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

Unlike the tickets for the Johannesburg game against Burkina Faso at FNB Stadium‚ which started selling at R100 and were reduced to R50 when it became apparent that the fans were voting with their feet‚ tickets for the Polokwane clash have gone on sale at R30.

Fans showed their displeasure with their reluctance to buy tickets for the game against Burkina Faso after the national team put their Russia 2018 chances in jeopardy with poor back-to-back defeats against Cape Verde in September.

The match against Senegal should draw big numbers given that the national football team redeemed themselves to some extent with a 3-1 win against Burkina Faso to pull themselves back to contention.

Bafana will go to Russia for the World Cup finals if they beat Senegal at home‚ then again away in Dakar on November 14.

But the two matches remain a do-or-die uphill battle for Group D’s bottom team. And Senegal‚ with the huge advantage of only needing a point to qualify‚ will be favourites.

Senegal coach Aliou Cisse has surprisingly included influential winger Sadio Mane in his squad announced on Wednesday, despite the Liverpool player having picked up a reported sixweek injury in the Lions’s 2-0 win against Cape Verde.

A draw against Bafana‚ who have four points from four matches‚ will take the Senegalese to nine points, with a huge goal difference in their favour compared with that of Cape Verde and Burkina Faso.

The winner of the Burkina Faso and Cape Verde clash in Ouagadougou on November 14 can also finish with nine points.

The Bafana versus Senegal match‚ which was initially played in November 2016 and won 2-1 by SA‚ was nullified by Fifa‚ which ruled in September that the outcome was affected by match manipulation by referee Joseph Lamptey of Ghana.

Tickets for Bafana’s qualifier against Senegal are available at Computicket and Shoprite and Checkers outlets.