The
match will be played at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo on a Sunday. Details of the
kick-off are still to be relayed.
The
appeal to move the match came from the South African Football Association
(SAFA) who requested FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to
move the return leg with CAR to a neutral venue following political unrest in
that country. Thirteen (13) South African soldiers died in skirmishes with the
rebels in that country’s capital Bangui two months ago. The number of
casualties rose to 14 after one of the wounded soldiers died late last month.
“I
am happy that the venue issue has finally been settled. I must commend SAFA,
FIFA and CAF for making this happen because we lost our loved ones there not so
long ago and the environment is still too tense to have a match in that
country. It would definitely not have been the right atmosphere to play there,”
said Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund.
“But
it would be silly of me to say that now that we are playing at a neutral venue,
it will favour us. It will still be a very tough match, but the advantage is,
it will be away from the intimidation of the home crowd.
“We
will definitely be having our own supporters in the stands; which is a plus for
us. We played well against them in the home leg but they showed they are a
formidable side, so we need to be on guard and not take things lightly. We
should get all three points here and keep the pressure on Ethiopia who are two
points ahead of us in the group. We cannot afford to lose this match,” added
Igesund.
Bafana
Bafana team manager Barney Kujane will soon leave for Yaoundé to go and do a
fact-finding mission and work on logistics ahead of the squad’s travel to
Cameroon.
A
week after the clash with the CAR, South Africa will face Ethiopia in the
capital Addis Ababa.
The
match is scheduled for Sunday, 16 June and will kickoff at 16h00 local time in
Addis Ababa (15h00 SA time).
“We
are going to need warriors going into those two matches and we have to be
mentally strong. I believe I have those players so I am not worried. In fact
things are looking good for us.
“Also
we have been inspired by the heroics of Orlando Pirates in Lubumbashi on Sunday
(5 May 2013). They showed a lot of character when the odds were heavily stacked
against them. We should take a leaf off their book,” added Igesund.
South
Africa will host Botswana in the last match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup group
stages. The match will be played in September at a venue still to be
determined.
- SAFA
- SAFA
