Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi isn’t convinced Panama are a good opponent for Bafana Bafana’s World Cup preparations, likening them to Guatemala, one of the teams SA played against to prepare for the 2010 World Cup on home soil.
Bafana face Panama in a two-legged friendly at the Moses Mabhida and Cape Town stadiums on Friday and Tuesday, respectively.
Despite being ranked 33rd in the world, 27 places ahead of Bafana, Mngqithi doesn’t see Panama as the type of opponent Bafana should be facing in what is the last Fifa window before the World Cup, to be co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada in winter.
“The type of opposition [Panama] is like the opponents we played against ahead of the 2010 World Cup, playing against Guatemala, teams we had never heard of in football.
“Even now I feel we didn’t support [Bafana coach Hugo] Broos enough,” Mngqithi insisted.
While Broos made it clear he was pleased with Panama, labelling them a “good test” for Bafana as he feels they play exactly like Mexico, who SA face in the World Cup opener on June 11 in Mexico City, Mngqithi is of the view that an African opponent, which has also qualified for the global showpiece, would have been a better choice.
“We could have chosen even one powerhouse from Africa. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an overseas team. You could’ve chosen one of the African teams that have qualified for the World Cup to see where we are, because this is the only Fifa break before the World Cup,” Mngqithi said.
“Maybe smaller teams like this are teams you can squeeze anywhere closer to the World Cup, not necessarily that you use the only Fifa break to play a team that is not as powerful as you’d like.”
On Monday, Broos revealed reigning world champions Argentina and Brazil, who are the most successful team in the FIFA World Cup with five titles, wanted to come to SA to play Bafana, but exorbitant match fees nearing R100m prevented that.
Broos hopes Bafana will play another friendly in May. Bafana are in Group A with Mexico, South Korea and the winner of the European playoff between Denmark vs North Macedonia and Czech Republic vs Ireland (with the two winners playing for the final spot).
TimesLIVE
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