We need no further motivation - Rantie

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.

Bafana Bafana will have their last training session in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Wednesday, with Thursday set aside for travelling to Douala before flying out to Ethiopia on Friday.

- SAFA