Bafana know they are going to create chances, they just need to take them

RAMAHLWE MPHAHLELE is prepared to take the challenge of policing Nigeria and Arsenal attacker Alex Iwobi head-on.

The nephew of former Super Eagles icon Jay-Jay Okocha is expected to prove a handful for Bafana Bafana defenders, particularly fullbacks Mphahlele and Sifiso Hlanti, with his pace and skill.

But Mphahlele is anything but terrified ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between South Africa and Nigeria at FNB Stadium.

“We know Nigeria have tricky wingers like Iwobi and Ahmed Musa – if we can contain their front four I don’t see it being a problem,” Mphahlele said with confidence.

The battle between the Bafana right-back and English Premier League star Iwobi was much talked about three weeks ago when Arsenal beat Leicester City 3-1 and the Nigeria winger was the recipient of a man-ofthe-match award.

Jokes were flying around that Iwobi would have his way with Mphahlele, who silenced Iwobi’s praise singers with a sumptuous winning goal for his club Kaizer Chiefs in their narrow win over SuperSport United in the Telkom Knockout two weeks ago at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

“If we concentrate and take our chances then we will have the advantage. We know we are going to create chances, we just need to take them,” Mphahlele said.

Mphahlele feels another boost for Bafana is the fact that Nigeria will be without their top goal scorer Odion Ighalo, who has managed to find the back of the net six times during the qualifiers but misses tomorrow’s match due to injury.

“That’s definitely going to affect them,” said Mphahlele. “They would have relied on Ighalo to score goals – it’s an advantage for us. But we know they also have players who are capable of replacing him. We are just going to give those attention, respect them, but not fear them. No fear at all. We are going to have a go at them, press them and try and match them. We obviously know that they have players in big leagues, but we just have to show that we beat them in the first round and can do it again because it wasn’t a fluke.”