Mongomo – While Bafana Bafana and Senegal’s players will be competing on the same pitch tomorrow night, the West Africans will be a tad higher above sea level than their counterparts.
The Senegalese players are a good few inches taller than their South African opponents. In fact, Senegal probably has the tallest team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. They were even taller than their Ghanaian opponents, who they beat 2-1 in the first match in Group C.
Senegal threatened at almost every dead-ball situation, as their monster central defenders and big forward line take some stopping when they go up for corners and free-kicks whipped into the penalty area.
South Africa’s tallest player is Eric Mathoho, and coach Shakes Mashaba will be glad that the Kaizer Chiefs man is available in defence to try and counter the physicality for the Senegalese.
This, of course, is a must-win match for Bafana after they lost their first one against Algeria. But it seems they have already figured out a way to beat Senegal at the Estadio de Mongomo (kick-off 9pm SA time).
The plan is not a strange one. In fact, it’s an all too familiar scheme, as Bafana look to get their Afcon campaign back on track.
“We know they have a few big boys,” Bafana winger Thuso Phala said yesterday. “They are more physical than us because they are taller. Set-piece wise they will have the advantage. But if you are taller and bigger then you are a lot slower than us.
“Physically we as South Africans have a disadvantage, but we have a way of working around it. We are quicker and have the agility. It showed against Mali, who also have big players, but we played them off the park.”
Scoring goals is priority No1, after a lack of qualify execution against the Desert Foxes came back to bite them in the backside.
“We knew coming into this tournament all our games are going to be difficult,” the SuperSport United winger said. “We played the top team on the continent, but I think we outplayed them on the day. I believe that, if we can play well again and take our chances, we can beat Senegal.”
Meanwhile, the Bafana team doctor Thulani Ngwenya says 18-year-old defender Rivaldo Coetzee could still feature at this Afcon, but the Ajax Cape Town kid, who came off injured against Algeria, will not be considered for tomorrow’s match against Senegal to recover in time for Tuesday’s final match against Ghana. - The Star