Bafana’s Pitso warns of Kenya threat in AFCON qualifiers

Pitso Mosimane has warned that Bafana Bafana must be careful of a Kenya side with nothing to lose as they clash with the Harambee Stars in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations Group D qualifiers.

Bafana face Kenya twice

Bafana will take on Kenya at Orlando Stadium on Friday. They will then travel to face Benni McCarthy’s side in Nairobi on November 17.

Kenya have just one point from their opening two AFCON qualifiers but it matters little as the Harambee Stars automatically qualify for next year’s finals as co-hosts with Uganda and Tanzania.

“We must be very careful of playing a team with nothing to lose, they are in the finals,” Mosimane told journalists on Monday ahead of Bafana training at Milpark Stadium.

Mosimane also praised the character of McCarthy, who has come under-fire as Kenya head coach. Kenya opened their AFCON campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Eritrea and followed that with a 1-0 loss away to Guinea.

“Benni has the character of a will to win and of fighting for his name,” said Mosimane.

“We have to respect that, he was a coach at Manchester United, he coached (Cristiano) Ronaldo. We have to respect the level he reached as a coach and a player.

“None of us have won the Champions League (McCarthy won the Uefa Champions League as a player with Porto in 2004). You have to understand what kind of person we are talking about in terms of a personality to win at all costs.”

‘There is no underestimating teams’

“Kenya have players from Finland, from Wales, from Sweden, from France. There is no underestimating teams.

“We learned from Cape Verde at the World Cup that you must respect all teams until the final results.”

Bafana had only two overseas-based players in camp at their Monday training session. Central defenders Ime Okon and Olwethu Makhanya had both arrived.

US-based Lyle Foster, Puso Dithejane and Mbekezeli Mbokazi, along with Belgium-based Relebohile Mofokeng and Norway-based Samukele Kabini were all expected to have arrived by Tuesday’s training.