Bafana
Bafana striker Tokelo Rantie believes the players do not need any further
motivation for their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa
on Sunday.
The
game is scheduled to kick off at 16h00 in Ethiopia (and 15h00 South African
time).
“We
do not need anyone to remind us or push us to the limit with regards to the
importance of this game. We know its massive significance,” said the stocky
striker.
With
South Africa and Ethiopia, only the two nations in Group A with a realistic
chance of qualifying for the play-offs after Botswana and the Central African
Republic (CAR) were eliminated in the last round of matches, Rantie said
Sunday’s encounter was a do-or-die. The East Africans lead Group A with 10
points, two ahead of Bafana Bafana. It is therefore imperative that Gordon
Igesund’s charges win this one on Sunday.
“It
is not like there is a choice here – either we swim or sink – it is as simple
as that.”
“As
a player you do not need any further motivation than that. The permutations on
their own are enough motivation for players because everyone knows what is at
stake.
“This
for us is like playing a cup final because we know anything less than victory
will be irrelevant. The exciting thing is that both countries meet after they
won their previous matches. Football is likely to be the biggest winner on
Sunday,” smiled Rantie.
The
player is positive that all said and done, Bafana Bafana should draw lots of
positives from the Central African Republic (CAR) game they convincingly won
despite trials and tribulations leading up to the game.
“On
Tuesday we watched the video of their (Ethiopia) match against Botswana and we
have noticed some areas where we can capitalise and win on Sunday. They are a
strong side, no doubt about that, they will be playing at home and should be
high on confidence – which of course, might be their biggest undoing.”
Rantie
believes team effort combined with individual brilliance will see Bafana Bafana
through against the Walia Antelopes.
“As
strikers we need to score goals and we have been very hard at training working
on that. The key to scoring goals is creating as many chances as possible and
converting most of those chances. I am confident though that we are going to
win on Sunday; I have that gut feeling,” added Rantie.
- SAFA
