Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has warned about the potential danger posed by Benni McCarthy’s Kenyan side ahead of their back-to-back AFCON qualifiers.
Speaking as the squad began training at Milpark Stadium in Johannesburg on Monday, Mosimane was asked how he planned to approach the fixtures, particularly with McCarthy recently coming under pressure.
- ALSO READ: Pitso Provides Update On Bafana Squad As Camp Kicks Off
- Pitso Shrugs Off Benni ‘Intel’ On How Bafana Plays
Mosimane believes such circumstances can make an opposing team even more dangerous, as players may be motivated to go the extra mile and secure results in support of their coach.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns coach also stated that Kenya can go all out as they have nothing to lose after securing qualification for AFCON finals as hosts.
“I’ll take your words when you say, when the future of the coach depends on the game, you’ve got to be very careful, sometimes the players will play for him,” said Mosimane.
“You can get a biggest surprise you can ever have. So, you need to be very careful on playing an emotional team and especially when they have nothing to lose.
“They are already in the Cup of Nations finals. So, you need to be very careful of those, that’s what we’re doing.”
Mosimane also stressed the importance of respecting McCarthy, describing him as a quality coach with valuable experience from playing and coaching at the highest level.
“Also, Benni, his personality, he has character of that will to win, the personality of fighting for his name in football,” he added.
“We have to respect the fact that he is a good coach, he was at Manchester United, a dream for every coach in South Africa, he was coaching [Cristiano] Ronaldo.
“He has personality to fight, he played at high level, he has [UEFA] Champions League [gold] medal.”