Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane says he is not worried about his Kenya counterpart Benni McCarthy’s knowledge of his players and style of play ahead of their teams’ 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier this month.
Qualifying Group D leaders Bafana hosts Harambee Stars in Orlando next week with the return leg of the fixture on 17 November in Kenya.
The East African side have already qualified for the PAMOJA tournament as one of the co-hosts of the event while South Africa are looking to make it a hat-trick of appearances at AFCON after qualifying for the 2023 and 2025 editions.
Mosimane has previously coached Bafana’s all-time top goal scorer during his first stint with the national team and he says to know how someone or a team play isn’t really an advantage but an understanding of what’s likely to come.
“I guess everybody knows how Barcelona plays right,” said Mosimane after naming the squad to face McCarthy’s side on Thursday.
“Everybody knows how Arsenal is playing, right? Everybody sees Bayern Munich. Everyone has got analysts four analysts, people have got that, so they don’t know how they play? Everybody knows how you play.”
“Doesn’t mean when I know how Benni plays, it means now I have an advantage. No, it just gives me a little bit of data and understanding of seeing patterns, what is most likely to come,”
“And what if they have changed the plan, right? Everybody knows how [Orlando] Pirates plays until you get to Orlando Stadium, right? So, it’s the way it is in football.”