Jordaan shrugs off Nigeria threat
Safa unmoved as Bafana draw rivals in Afcon qualifiers
DANNY Jordaan sat in the front row at the African Nations Cup draw in Libreville on Tuesday night and flinched as Nigeria were drawn in Bafana Bafana’s qualifying group for the next finals‚ in 2019 in Cameroon.
But the South African Football Association president insisted afterwards that South Africa‚ even without a coach six months before the qualifiers get under way‚ could top Group E and get an automatic berth at the 2019 finals.
“It’s a reality of sport that you can get a tough draw but I think we have shown over the last few matches that we are equal to Nigeria and that we have a good chance.”
Bafana will play away in Nigeria in their opening group game in June‚ just two months before they resume their 2018 World Cup qualifiers. “It’s going to be tough to juggle the two competitions at the same time but I think‚ strangely‚ the teams playing in this Nations Cup in Gabon will have an additional burden with a hectic programme for the year‚” Jordaan said.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge to play in two qualification tournaments in one year and in addition to that, you have the Nations Cup finals now and then there are also club commitments.
“So for many teams it is a huge ask.”
Neither Nigeria nor South Africa are at the Nations Cup finals‚ which get underway in Gabon today. South Africa’s poor record in past tournaments meant the country was only seeded in the second tier for Thursday’s draw below countries like the Cape Verde Islands‚ Mali and Zambia.
South Africa’s other two group opponents are Libya and the Seychelles. War-torn Libya are still prohibited from playing at home because of the civil strife in the country and usually either host their games in neighbouring Egypt or Tunisia.
“As the situation stands now‚ when Libya host us it will be at a neutral venue‚” said Jordaan of the game that would come at the end of the group in November 2018. “But it’s a long way before we play them and the situation could change‚ so we’ll see.”
Bafana’s opening game at Nigeria in June is followed by five matches in 2018‚ first home to Libya (March)‚ the home and away to the Seychelles (both September)‚ home to Nigeria (October) and finally Libya away.
There are a total of 12 groups for the 2019 Nations Cup preliminaries. The winners plus the best three runners-up advance to Cameroon 2019. — TMG