Bafana camp in Tunis for Sfax match
Bafana Bafana have decided to camp in Tunis for the majority of their time in Tunisia‚ then spend two days in match venue Sfax ahead of their huge Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya next Sunday.
The national team left for Tunisia – where the match will be played due to the unstable security situation in Libya – on Saturday night at 8.40pm‚ flying to Frankfurt‚ Germany‚ where they arrived at 6.15pm.
They took a two-hour connecting flight to Tunis, where they will set up camp until Thursday.
Bafana coach Stuart Baxter said ahead of the team’s departure that this was because there was no adequate training facility in Sfax.
“We were looking at all sorts of ways of solving the logistical problems‚” Baxter said.
“We were looking at a charter flight‚ but that could have had all sorts of problems.
“One‚ the charter would have had to stop to refuel and there might have been huge delays.
“Two was getting into Sfax and then not having adequate training facilities.
“I’m happy with the solution we’ve got now, which is flying SAA to Frankfurt‚ hop across with a two-hour flight to Tunis and camp there.
“Then we’ll take the 3½hour bus trip to Sfax on our non-training day [Thursday]‚ and then we’ll have two days’ training‚ and two sessions there at the stadium.”
Libya‚ too‚ found the training facilities in Sfax not to their liking and are camping in coastal city Sousse‚ 130km away. Sfax is 270km from Tunis.
Bafana need a draw from their final Group E game at the 25‚000-seater Stade Taïeb Mhiri‚ the home ground of CS Sfaxien‚ to qualify for Egypt 2019. Libya need a win.
The South Africans drew 0-0 against Libya in Durban in September.
Sfax is about 300km from the border with Libya‚ and 520km from Libyan capital Tripoli. –