After starting his tenure at Bafana Bafana with three successive victories, coach Pitso Mosimane is looking to extend that winning streak as he squares off against Benni McCarthy’s Kenya in the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
Bafana will look to win both matches when they host the Harambee Stars at Orlando Stadium on Friday at 6pm before travelling to Nairobi for the return leg next Tuesday.
Bafana defeated Guinea and Eritrea in the Afcon qualifiers in late September before beating Egypt in an international friendly at the beginning of October.
Kenya have already secured their place at the 2027 edition as co-hosts alongside Uganda and Tanzania and are using these matches to prepare for the tournament.
“I hope it remains like that,” Mosimane said of his perfect start and insisted he is still under pressure despite it.
When you are not under pressure, you must know that you are in the wrong space
— Pitso Mosimane
“If you don’t want pressure, don’t coach Bafana. In fact, don’t coach any team. Is the coach at Chippa [Brandon Truter] under pressure? Who is not under pressure, and who is in their comfort zone?
“I’ve seen the coach of [Orlando] Pirates [Abdeslam Ouaddou] celebrating the derby [victory]. I feel how difficult the emotions and the build-up of this thing are. We are all under pressure. The minute you are not under pressure, you are in your comfort zone, and when you are not under pressure, you must know that you are in the wrong space.”
Mosimane dismissed the notion that Kenya will have a significant advantage because of McCarthy’s familiarity with Bafana.
“I guess everybody knows how Barcelona plays, right,” he said.
“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. Just because I know how Benni plays doesn’t mean I have an advantage now. No, it just gives me a little bit of data and understanding of seeing patterns and what is most likely to come.
“What if he has changed the plan? Everybody knows how Pirates play until you get into Orlando [Stadium], right? It is the way it is in football.”
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