Despite the pressure on Bafana Bafana ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Nigeria on Saturday, South Africa winning captain to AFCON 1996 Neil Tovey is in relaxed mood.
The Group E rivals in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifier will be hoping to entertain fans in the epic match at the magnificent FNB Stadium.
South Africa who are second with eight points, one point drift leaders Nigeria will pick a ticket to Cameroon 2019 with three maximum points at home.
Tobey, who is South Africa Football Association (SAFA) Sporting Director says the mentality and approach will motivate the players to lift their game.
The legend said in a chat with Kickoff.com, “I’m more confident against Nigeria than I am against anyone else because I know the mentality will change as the players know they’re up against it.”
“Your mentality comes from your approach and everything. So this might drive them a bit more, from a mental point, into a team dynamic. But I think where we are really lacking is in big-game moments, not taking those chances – that happened against the Seychelles – a big-game moment is when you’re under the crossbar, and you put the ball into the net.”
With two wins, two draws and four clean sheets recorded so far in the qualifying series, Tovey admitted that a win in the last group game against Seychelles would have put Bafana Bafana on the plane to Cameroon.
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride. After four games, and after the two Seychelles games, we should have been a lot closer to qualifying. Home and away at Seychelles, we should have really done the job. But you get matches where you just don’t put the ball across the goal line – I don’t think it had anything to do with tactics. On the day, if you don’t take your chances, it makes it all the more difficult, and it gives a team like Seychelles the confidence to lift their game. But if we had scored the first goal, I think it would have been another case of 4 or 5-0 – we just needed that first goal, which never came about through the inability to concentrate at the vital time.”
