Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says Ghana were surprised by South Africa’s “good performance” when the two sides met in Johannesburg in September and that makes the Black Stars “nervous” ahead of the return fixture on Sunday.
Broos’ men edged the West Africans 1-0 in what was the Belgian’s first competitive game in charge of Bafana.
Sunday's encounter will be the final Group G match in Cape Coast and should be a winner-takes-all encounter, assuming South Africa and Ghana beat their mid-week opponents, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia respectively.
Next matches
Currently, just a point separates group leaders Bafana and second-placed Black Stars.
“But we have to win first against Zimbabwe, because if you draw, then you can go to Ghana with one point behind. And this is the very best situation. I know that Ghana is very nervous, they are nervous,” Broos said on SABC Sport as per iDiski Times.
“They are surprised by the good performance of South Africa. When I hear the coach speaking before the game against Ghana, he was really sure to win the game, because okay, South Africa that, and then you lost.”
If South Africa and Ghana win their respective matches against Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, they go into their Group G final match with Bafana needing just a point while three points would be a must for the Black Stars to reach the next round of qualifiers.
“And now, it’s still like that, we are still one point ahead, and you can be sure if it stays like this, or maybe one point more, let’s hope,” said Broos.
“So they have to win against us, they will be nervous. This is a very difficult situation. If you start on again the last game, you can’t recuperate after this is finished.
“And you have to win against the team you didn’t expect that they were so good. So they’re nervous, let’s win against Zimbabwe and then see what happens in the game against Ethiopia.”
Bafana players started reporting for camp on Sunday evening and began training on Monday.
With Kaizer Chiefs defender Sifiso Hlanti having already been ruled out of the upcoming matches, Sekhukhune United midfielder Yusuf Maart has joined him on the sidelines.
Maart will not be available for the Zimbabwe match and the trip to the Cape Coast due to a knee injury.