Bafana to face Super Eagles
The two will clash in a high profile international friendly, the 12th meeting between the continent’s bitter rivals. In the past 11 meetings so far, Bafana Bafana have only prevailed once, lost 7 encounters and drawn the other three.
South Africa and Nigeria drew the two matches in the recent CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying encounters for Equatorial Guinea although Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba will feel he should at least have won one of the two games. The first ended in a goalless draw at Cape Town Stadium in which South Africa spurned two late chances and in the return game, conceded two late goals as the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
“The upcoming game will definitely be another grudge encounter and both countries’ coaches would like to put the record straight. Whenever the two nations clash, the entire country comes to a standstill, more so with a huge Nigerian community in South Africa, this will be another explosive clash. This is a match soccer fans must not miss,” said SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan.
Tickets are available as from Monday and will go for R60 all round.
Head-to-head clashes between the two countries:
10/10/1992 – World Cup qualifier – Nigeria 4-0 South Africa
16/01/1993 – World Cup qualifier – South Africa 0-0 Nigeria
10/02/2000 – African Cup of Nations – South Africa 0-2 Nigeria
31/01/2004 – African Cup of Nations – Nigeria 4-0 South Africa
17/11/2004 – Nelson Mandela Challenge – South Africa 2-1 Nigeria
01/06/2008 – World Cup/AFCON qualifier – Nigeria 2-0 South Africa
06/09/2008 – World Cup/AFCON qualifier – South Africa 0-1 Nigeria
14/08/2013 – Nelson Mandela Challenge – South Africa 0-2 Nigeria
19/01/2014 – African Nations Championship – South Africa 1-3 Nigeria
10/09/2014 – African Cup of Nations Qualifier – South Africa 0–0 Nigeria
19/11/2014 – African Cup of Nations Qualifier – Nigeria 2–2 South Africa
South Africa men’s national under-17 team, Amajimbos, who finished runners-up at the recently ended CAF African Youth championships in Niger to Mali, have an opportunity to avenge their final loss to the West Africans.
Molefi Ntseki’s Amajimbos play African champions Mali in probably one of the most mouth-watering curtain-raisers at Mbombela Stadium. The Amajimbos v Mali match starts at 13h00.
The South African under-17 team met Mali twice in Niger – drawing the first match 2-2 during the group stages and lost 2-0 in the final.
Both teams, together with Nigeria and Guinea, will represent Africa at the World Cup in Chile.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
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