Bafana’s Ntseki has homework to do on Sao Tome

Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki will spend the next few months trying to pick holes in Sao Tome and Principe’s game structure ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier fixture.  

Sao Tome beat Mauritius 3-1 in the first round of the preliminary stage and followed it up with a 2-1 victory in the second leg for a 5-2 aggregate win to secure themselves a spot in the qualifiers.

They are up against Bafana, Ghana and Sudan in Group C.

Bafana kick off their campaign with an away trip to Kumasi, Ghana, on November 14 and will host Sudan four days later at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on November 19.

The 2021 Afcon qualifiers then take a nine-month break.

When the competition resumes in 2020, SA will play back-to-back matches against Sao Tome, on September 4 and 8 at home and away.

Bafana will host Ghana in October 2020 and, in the final match of the qualifiers in November, Ntseki’s charges travel to Sudan.

“We will have to do our research on Sao Tome because for us it is not only about qualifying for Afcon. For us it’s also on doing well if possible, to improve on our Fifa and Caf rankings,” the coach said.

“We don’t know much about Sao Tome, but we will do our homework properly so that when we play them we know what to expect.

“The same will be done with Sudan and Ghana.”

With four more weeks to go before the Ghana game, Ntseki said he would work on the team’s cohesion and tactics.

“We have a very motivated and happy team that understands and respects one another.

“That will make the tactics much easier because if you look at the team that we have now, there is that understanding and respect for one another.

“We will be up against explosive and talented players when we play against Ghana. They are more of a possession team because of the quality that they have in team.

“So how do you counter that? Those are areas that we will be working on going into that match.”

Cameroon are the hosts of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.