Bafana Bafana were on Thursday handed a tricky Group for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign after being drawn alongside Nigeria, Libya and the Seychelles.
Safa president Dr Danny Jordaan feels they have the ability to beat the Super Eagles to the top spot once again as they did three years ago to book a place in the 2015 Afcon finals.
“It’s a reality of sport that you can get a tough draw, but I think we have shown over the last few matches that we are equal to Nigeria and that we have a good chance,” Jordaan told The Sowetan.
Jordaan believes it would be difficult for all the teams to juggle both the 2018 Fifa World Cup and 2019 Afcon qualifying campaigns, especially who are in Gabon for the 2017 Afcon finals.
“It’s going to be tough to juggle the two competitions at the same time, but I think strangely the teams playing in this Nations Cup in Gabon will have an additional burden with a hectic programme for the year,” Jordaan said.
“They have a much stronger possibility for injury and burnout. It’s going to be a huge challenge to play in two qualification tournaments in one year and in addition to that you have the Nations Cup finals now and then there are also club commitments."
“So, for many teams it is a huge ask. It will require careful management by the technical teams of all of the countries,” Jordaan said.
Bafana will play their first ever international match with Libya, who are beset by wars that have seen them play their previous home qualifiers at neutral venues.
Jordaan is preparing for the same thing in November next year, but admits the situation could change between now and then.
“As the situation stands now, when Libya hosts us it will be at a neutral venue, but it’s a long way before we play them and the situation could change, so we’ll see,” Jordaan concluded.
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