{"id":56643,"date":"2023-11-16T16:51:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T16:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin"},"modified":"2023-11-16T17:01:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:01:57","slug":"bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin","title":{"rendered":"Bafana feeling confident ahead of World Cup qualifier against Benin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Bafana Bafana are high on confidence ahead of their first match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Benin in Durban this weekend.<\/p>\n

South Africa, who are aiming for a return to the global showpiece for the first time since 2010, get that mission under way against the 93rd-ranked West African country at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (3pm). Bafana were hosts of 2010 World Cup, but the last time they qualified for the tournament was for Korea\/Japan in 2002.<\/p>\n

They have missed the three World Cups since their participation on home soil, but Bafana goalkeeper Veli Mothwa feels the current group of players assembled by coach Hugo Broos is good enough to book a ticket to the next event.<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup will be staged in Mexico, Canada and the US, where it will expanded from 32 to 48 participants with nine qualifiers from Africa, and another place available via an inter-confederation playoff.<\/p>\n

Mothwa believes the core of Broos’ squad has been together long enough to be become bonded into a competitive outfit, as indicated by their qualification for next year\u2019s African Cup of Nations (Afcon).<\/p>\n

Broos\u2019 team has gone for more than a year without a defeat, though there have been some disappointing draws in that period. The last time Bafana lost was when they were beaten 2-1 by Morocco in their Afcon qualifier in Rabat in June last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the team the coach has assembled it\u2019s very important [to qualify for the World Cup]. We didn\u2019t qualify for the previous World Cup, but we want to play in that 2026 World Cup,\u201d Mothwa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe preparations are going well, especially now with the Afcon [coming up]. I can tell you that come 2026, Bafana will be in the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mothwa has called on supporters from KwaZulu-Natal to rally behind the national team when they face Benin. Bafana have been struggling to attract crowds at venues in Gauteng.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the KZN supporters, I feel like you guys needed this and so we are bringing this to you, and I know they are going to come out in numbers to support the national team because it has been so long since they have seen Bafana Bafana play at Moses Mabhida,\u201d Mothwa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the time we play without supporters or fewer supporters than we expected, but the supporters play a big role for us. \u201cIf they are there cheering us, it makes everything easy to win the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game against Benin the South Africans travel to Rwanda for their second Group C qualifier at the tiny, 10,000-seat Stade Huye in Butare on Tuesday (3pm SA time).<\/p>\n

Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lesotho are the remaining teams in Group C, the winners of which reach the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Four best-placed runners-up from nine groups go into a playoff to decide the team that will play in the inter-confederation tie.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Bafana Bafana are high on confidence ahead of their first match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Benin in Durban this weekend. South Africa, who are aiming for a return to the global showpiece for the first time since 2010, get that mission under way against the 93rd-ranked West African […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":56641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-56643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nBafana feeling confident ahead of World Cup qualifier against Benin - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bafana Bafana are high on confidence ahead of their first match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Benin in D ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bafana feeling confident ahead of World Cup qualifier against Benin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bafana Bafana are high on confidence ahead of their first match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Benin in D ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-16T16:51:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-16T17:01:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/11\/sm_1700141419.547397.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"468\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bafana feeling confident ahead of World Cup qualifier against Benin\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-16T16:51:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-16T17:01:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/11\/sm_1700141419.547397.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/bafana-feeling-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifier-against-benin\",\"name\":\"Bafana feeling confident ahead of World Cup qualifier against Benin - 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