South Africa enter into their final
Group A clash against Morocco
brimming with their confidence
after their inspired performance
against Angola, which has left
them top of Group A with four points. The hosts will have to deal
with a few injury concerns before
the match, as striker Lehlohonolo
Majoro will not be fit for the tie
after being helped off the pitch
on Wednesday. Tokelo Rantie has a question
mark placed on his head as he
picked up a knock in training,
while injured pair Kagisho Dikgacoi
and Lerato Chabangu were seen
doing light training in Durban on Thursday. This would mean South
Africa go into the game with only
two recognised strikers in their
squad, with Katlego Mphela and
Bernard Parker leading the line of
attack. Gordon Igesund is wary of
Morocco before the tie and is
encouraging his players to focus
on the present and the match
ahead. "We know what we need to do on
Sunday. We can't continue living in
the past. We must start
celebrating once we qualify for
the quarter-finals," he told
reporters. "We won our second game, but
we really can't get carried away
with that. One win is not going to
qualify us. We know what have to
do next. We have a tough match
against a strong Morocco side and we need to win that one." The hosts will target a victory
against the side deemed to be
the strongest in the group, but
Morocco have failed to light up
the tournament with draws
against Angola and Cape Verde and may fear the renewed vigour
and confidence displayed by
Bafana Bafana in their win over
the Palanacas Negras. Rachid Taoussi will need to make
some changes in order to help his
side unleash their attacking
potential with players such as
Assaidi and El Hamadaoui yet to
fire. Taoussi may be regretting leaving
Adel Taabart and Maraoune
Chamkah out of his squad, as the
side has looked rather toothless
in attack, with only a single goal
being scored in the tournament by El Arabi, which was the
priceless equaliser against Cape
Verde. However the team will want to
prove that they can do well
without the likes of Taarabt, by
beating a host nation which
looked unstoppable against
Angola. Many South Africans feared the
tie against Morocco, but it seems
the tables have turned as
suddenly the Atlas Lions could be
deemed as the underdogs on
Sunday night.