Bafana Bafana mentor Helman Mkhalele is certain that teams will be baying for South Africa's blood in the 2024 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup as Mzansi are the highest-ranked team in the tournament.
Group A’s Eswatini and Botswana will set the 2024 edition in motion this afternoon as a curtain-raiser for Bafana’s opening match against Mozambique at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Kick-off is at 18:00.
“We are excited and looking forward to the game against Mozambique, even though we are aware that we are faced with a huge challenge,” Mkhalele said.
“We are the team that when each and every team comes up against Bafana Bafana, they raise their game. We are aware of that challenge,” he added.
As it has become tradition, the South African Football Association deploys an experimental Bafana side as the regional tournament falls outside of the FIFA calendar. Mkhalele – who serves as Hugo Broos’ assistant, will use this opportunity to put his coaching abilities to the test.
The Bafana and Orlando Pirates legend insists his side are well prepared for their Mozambique test, who are in search of their first Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup title.
“Looking at the work that we have put in over a couple of days, I believe that we stand a good chance of doing well even though it is not going to be easy,” Helman added.
“Maximum concentration in making sure that we take the game to the Mozambicans and try to create as many goal-scoring opportunities and score them.
“Defensively we need to make sure that we don’t concede in the opening minutes because that might work against us. For us, an early start would be our priority and making sure that we make use of each and every chance that we get,” Mkhalele added.
South Africa are the third-best performer in the competition, having claimed the title five times while Zimbabwe and Zambia won six and seven crowns respectively.
The last coach to lead Bafana to COSAFA Cup success was Morena Ramoreboli, who led South Africa to glory in 2021.
