Bafana Bafana head coach Pitso Mosimane has warned his squad ahead of their back-to-back 2027 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] qualifiers against Kenya not to underestimate Benni McCarthy’s Harambee Stars.
Kenya are already guaranteed a place at the finals as co-hosts, and Mosimane believes that freedom makes them a dangerous proposition, a team with nothing to lose, and a group of players with everything to prove to their new coach.
Bafana host Kenya at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Friday 13 November before visiting the East African nation on Tuesday 17 November at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Mosimane will be targeting maximum points in the two fixtures, having already picked up six points from the first two encounters against Guinea and Eritrea.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Mosimane said: “If a player or a coach’s future depends on a game, you’ve got to be very, very careful of that because sometimes the players play for him and you can get the biggest surprise you can ever have.”
“So be very careful of playing an emotional team and especially when they have nothing to lose.”
BENNI McCARTHY’S CV DEMANDS RESPECT
McCarthy’s pedigree is not lost on Mosimane, who pointed to the former striker’s UEFA Champions League triumph and his spell on the Manchester United coaching staff, where he worked alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
“You’ve got to also respect that Benni is a good coach. Benni was coach at Manchester United, a dream that any coach in South Africa wished to have. He coached [Cristiano] Ronaldo, excuse me.
“You’ve got to respect the level at which he has coached, and you’ve got to respect the level at which he has played.”
The former Mamelodi Sundowns tactician also flagged the growing number of Kenyan internationals plying their club trade in Europe, warning that the Harambee Stars are no longer a side to be judged on reputation alone.
He was referring to the likes of Stade de Reims centre-back Joseph Okumu, Real Sociedad winger Job Ochieng, Valencia’s Amos Wanjala and Aldrine Kibet, who plays for Celta Vigo.
And he used Cape Verde’s FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign as the clearest reminder of what an unfancied team can achieve when it is given a chance to believe.
Meanwhile, Mosimane, who has built a career on meticulous preparation, insists complacency is not a space he lives in because he has been burned by it before. “Otherwise, I don’t live in the space of complacency because I’ve lost many, many games to teams that in my career were bottom of the log or so-called minnows, or no one ever saw them coming. So you’ve got to respect it.”
RELATED STORY: Pitso Mosimane reveals reason behind bold Bafana call on injured Mokoena and Williams
