Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane has called on Egyptian football supporters to rally behind South Africa when they face Eritrea in their Group D Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in Egypt.
Speaking ahead of the encounter, Mosimane highlighted the long-standing football relationship between South Africa and Egypt, saying the Egyptian football community is familiar with Bafana Bafana and its history.
The Egyptian nation has very good knowledge of Bafana Bafana from the history. Bafana Bafana has put good history in Egypt. They know the players, they saw them also in the World Cup,” said Mosimane.
He also appealed directly to supporters of Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Zamalek to attend the match and support Bafana.
I’m saying to the Red Devils, they must come to the match and support us, and support me against Eritrea.
Al Ahly, I’m expecting you to come and support. Obviously, the Zamalekians also, they’re good, they will come and support us.
We need everybody to support us. They know us. We are brothers.”
Mosimane also praised the progress of South Africa’s youth development structures following Amajita’s recent performances under coach Raymond Mdaka.
He credited competitions such as the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC) and the Gauteng Development League (GDL) for providing young players with regular, competitive football.
It’s very motivating and inspirational, the story from our Under-20 national team. Coach Raymond Mdaka has done exceptionally well with the boys and consistently.
It only shows that our programmes in South Africa are good,” Mosimane said.
The Bafana coach said the regular competition provided at youth level creates a strong pipeline of players for South Africa’s national teams.
We’ve got a very good base of the DDC. We’ve got a good base of the Gauteng Development League, of the players who are playing in GDL.
We have that kind of platform and a base of these boys coming up from Under-14, Under-15 and Under-17, which are playing regularly, week in, week out.”
Mosimane described the development structure as a “conveyor belt” for national-team talent and called for continued investment in the programmes.
He also congratulated Mdaka and the Amajita players for their work, saying their progress provides a foundation for the Under-23 national team and ultimately Bafana Bafana.
So congratulations to Coach Raymond. Repeatedly putting the team there, giving us also a foundation now at the top to the Under-23s, to Bafana Bafana, to say, ‘Look there, what do we have? What’s coming?’”
Bafana Bafana will face Eritrea in their Group D AFCON qualifier in Egypt as they continue their campaign for a place at the continental tournament.