31 August 2015
ORLANDO Stadium sponsored by LaFarge will have a grudge fixture when Bafana Bafana host Senegal in a Nelson Mandela Challenge clash next Tuesday evening, 8 September (Kick Off: 7pm).
Stand tickets for the fixture at the original Mecca of SA Football will cost R60.
The star-studded Senegalese team are 2002 Fifa World Cup quarterfinalists who are currently ranked in fifth place in Africa. The Lions of Teranga have a formidable squad that is mostly based in Europe, including dangerous strikers Demba Ba (based in China) and Papis Demba Cisse (England) as well as highly-rated midfielder Sadio Mane (also in England).
However, Bafana coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba said that the fixture was perfect revenge after Senegal ensured that his charges got eliminated in the group stages of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) continental competition earlier this year.
Bafana aim to use the Soweto venue, a field that Mashaba is fond of having starred there himself as captain of Orlando Pirates back in the 1970s and 1980s, as good luck charm.
South Africa, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winners, are ranked 17th on the continent. Bafana have won once, drawn twice and lost one game in their four previous international matches at Orlando Stadium sponsored by LaFarge.
“We will win this one,” Mashaba vowed ahead of his return to his favourite venue and old stomping ground. “We have also targeted a team ranked higher than us to improve our ratings.”
South Africa and Senegal have met twice before in the Nelson Mandela Challenge – a tournament used to celebrate the legacy late icon where proceeds go to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The visitors won the 2002 edition on penalties with Bafana winning 3-2 in 2005.