Bafana
Bafana midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi says South Africa will have to win their two
away matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying games if they are to realise
their cherished dream of going to Brazil.
Bafana
play back-to-back away matches against Central African Republic (CAR) and
Ethiopia in June; matches that are likely to determine their ultimate
destination in their quest for a place in the 2014 World Cup scheduled for the
gigantic Latin American country. South Africa will then host Botswana in the
last WC qualifier in September.
“There
is no doubt, the away matches will be difficult but we have no choice but give
everything and hopefully get favourable results. We can win there; we have
proved what we are capable of. We just have to maintain the same attitude we
showed in the last match against CAR and results will take care of themselves.
“When
we play away, we need to be more disciplined with our tactics and not lose
shape. We have to ensure we don’t concede first as it could prove difficult to
come back. Therefore, it is imperative that we score an early goal to calm the
nerves down,” said Dikgacoi from England.
The
hard tackling midfielder said Bafana had no choice about which result to get in
their next two matches.
“If
we want to go to Brazil, we have to win the two away matches,” he said adding
that even the home game against neighbours Botswana was not a foregone
conclusion.
“They
proved they can be a hard nut to crack in our match against them away. They are
definitely no pushovers.”
Dikgacoi
said it would be ideal that by the time Bafana play Botswana in the last game,
qualification to Brazil should almost have been determined.
At
club level, the Crystal Palace hardman is also involved in another battle for
promotion struggle to the English Premiership.
Palace
is fourth on the table, a play-off position having relinquished top position in
the past few weeks in which they have somehow gone off the boil.
“We
have been dropping crucial points but we are still in a good place for
play-offs. We are left with five matches – three away and two at home - and if
we can win at least two of them, we are still in with a chance,” said Dikgacoi.
“We
are playing Ipswich on Tuesday (16 April 2013) away - having beaten them 5-0 in
the first round, there are no guarantees of another win because the last
matches of the season are often very difficult with teams fighting relegation
others fighting for promotion. So we have a tough time ahead of us but we are
confident of doing well.”
