{"id":22372,"date":"2013-09-03T14:02:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T12:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/bafana-must-beat-botswana\/"},"modified":"2013-09-03T14:02:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T12:02:45","slug":"bafana-must-beat-botswana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/bafana-must-beat-botswana\/","title":{"rendered":"Bafana must beat Botswana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"Gordon<\/a><\/p>\n

Gordon Igesund. Photo: Gallo Images<\/p>\n

For a man whose fate of a place in the last stage of the 2014 World Cup qualification is not in his hands, Gordon Igesund remained optimistic upon arriving in Durban yesterday to start preparing for the vital clash against Botswana on Saturday at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.<\/p>\n

Costly draws against Botswana and Central African Republic in the earlier qualification rounds and a loss to Ethiopia have left Bafana Bafana teetering on the brink of yet another failure to qualify for a major tournament.<\/p>\n

Though he remained optimistic of qualification, Igesund allowed a sense of reality that South Africa did not have the extraordinary powers to control what was going to happen between CAR and Ethiopia in the other decisive match of the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we have to do which is to play our game and win it convincingly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the power to control what happens in the other game so we can\u2019t worry about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Igesund added that they can\u2019t afford to take the Zebras, who still have a chance of qualifying for the next round if they win against Bafana Bafana by a bigger margin and CAR beat Ethiopia, lightly.<\/p>\n

He was happy with the significant progress that has been made in the past year. \u2013 The New Age<\/a><\/p>\n

For more Bafana Bafana news,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more breaking sporting news and views, visit MySport24 on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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