Bafana Bafana coach ready for tough group

Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba says they will “do their best” to get out of the Africa Cup of Nations ‘Group of Death’.

The South Africans were paired with Senegal, Ghana and Algeria in Group C last night – 4th, 5th and 1st in Africa respectively.

Still Mashaba is confident they can do the job, saying: “A tough group that we find ourselves in with all four teams coming from different regions so it needs a lot of spying, planning because all three teams are very good – Ghana, Algeria and Senegal.

“What we can say to South Africans is that even though it is a tough draw, we are going to there to compete.

“I suppose also in any group we could have been in it would have been difficult, we must just plan thoroughly and do our best.”

meanwhile, Mashaba has described Algeria, one of South Africa’s first opponents at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, as “very tough, tactical and quick going forward”.

The Bafana Bafana coach was hoping to pit his rapidly improving team against the North Africans in a pre-tournament friendly, but that is unlikely to happen now that the sides are drawn against each other in Group C.

Bafana’s other opponents in the group are also likely to pose a stiff challenge – South Africa have never beaten Senegal in five attempts, and while their record against Ghana is a good one, the Black Stars are one of Africa’s strongest sides, and beat South Africa home and away while qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.