Pretoria - Bafana Bafana players have joined the chorus of well-wishers from around the globe in wishing former President Nelson Mandela a speedy recovery.
Madiba was admitted to a Pretoria hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning due to a recurrence of his lung infection. He remains in a serious but stable condition.
“On behalf of the entire Bafana Bafana squad, I would like to wish former President Nelson Mandela a speedy recovery as we heard he was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“Our prayers are with him and we ask the whole world to also pray with us during these difficult times for Madiba,” said Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund who is travelling with the team to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Bafana kept alive their chances of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when they walloped the Central African Republic 3-nil in a crunch match played at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Saturday.
South Africa needs to enhance their chance of moving to the next stage of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, but beating group A leaders, Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on Saturday, June 16.
Ethiopia is now leading group A with 10 points after defeating Botswana 2-1 on Saturday in Gaborone and they are followed by South Africa with eight points.
Bafana will play face Botswana at home in their final qualifying match in September.
Igesund said he was happy with the victory against CAR. “I am happy with the score line though we dropped a bit in the second half. We can build the momentum from this result going to Ethiopia.”
He said despite his side remaining on second position after Ethiopia defeated Botswana, Bafana Bafana were still masters of their own destiny.
“We are not interested in what happened in the other match, we have to play both sides and we will be looking forward to the challenge.
“We do not expect favours from anyone. We must do all the hard work ourselves,” he said.
Skipper Itumeleng Khune said: “I am a big fan of team effort. This is not about me or anyone else but Bafana Bafana. Three goals and a clean sheet, we could not have asked for anything better.
“We showed mental strength out there. The approach to the game was positive that is why we came out tops.”
Khune said while it is important for the team to celebrate their victory, but they need to remember that they still have a mountain to climb in Addis Ababa.
“We’ve all won our previous matches, so we will go into this clash with high spirit, but I am positive that we can complete this mission of collecting maximum points,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
