Nunes wants victory over CAR

Following two cancelled flights, a bumpy road trip to Yaoundé and missing one day’s training session, Bafana Bafana have vowed to put the setback behind and focus on the task at hand.

The Senior National Team takes on the Central African Republic (CAR) in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match to be played on Saturday, 8 June 2013 at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Kick-off is at 15h00 local time in Yaoundé (16h00 SA time).

Slovakia-based defender Ricardo Nunes who was recalled and played a major role in the 2-0 win over Lesotho, will fill in the gap left by injured Tsepo Masilela. Nunes said he was happy to be back in the mix of the national set up.

“It was good to return to the national team after such a long time. The Lesotho game was a good match and a very good feeling for me,” said Nunes.

“For now, we want to put the recent (travelling) events behind us. We do not want to think about them at all. It was a horrible trip but it is done and dusted and we are now focussing on what we have to do here in Yaoundé.”

Nunes was not part of the squad that beat CAR in March in Cape Town but knows what to expect.

“I saw the highlights of the match; we created a lot of chances and should have won by a bigger margin. They also showed some glimpse of brilliance, so we have to very cautious in our approach, but with the quality of the players in the squad, I am very confident that we can get a positive result on Saturday. It will be very hard but we have to believe in ourselves,” added the Bafana Bafana left back.

“This is a very important match for us if we want to realise our dreams of going to the World Cup in Brazil. The good thing is that it is in our hands and we have to make it happen. In our minds, there is nothing on offer other than victory.”

Bafana Bafana will have their last training session at the match venue on Friday, 7 June in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, match officials for this match will be from Ghana.

The match officials are:

Referee: AGBOVU William Selorm (Ghana)

Ass Ref 1: SALIFU Malik Alidu (Ghana)

Ass Ref 2: LARYEA David (Ghana)

4th Official: NUNOO Thomas Micah (Ghana)

Match Commissioner: MBOMBO SEIDOU Njoya (Cameroon)

- SAFA