Igesund has no sleepless nights

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund is not having sleepless nights ahead of the quarterfinal clash with Mali on Saturday.

Igesund said Mali coach Patrice Carteron was playing mind games when he said pressure would be on Bafana and not his team.

After booking a date with Bafana last night Carteron said the pressure would be on the home team to do well as they would be playing in front of their home supporters.

But Igesund said Carteron was taking the pressure off his team by putting his team as the underdog.

“The fact is they are number three on the continent and have big name players whereas we are somewhere down there and he is just trying to take the pressure off his team. The pressure is on everyone and we will see what happens on Saturday,” said Igesund.

He said with two games away from reaching the final, his team would take one game at a time.

“The pressure is that we want to do well and not we have to do well. To be honest we were under pressure to do well as the expectations were very high and we had not performed well in our friendly games. But those friendlies prepared us well for this task.

“We are pleased and proud that we made the nations happy as it would have been a tragedy if we had not qualified for the quarterfinals. Now the pressure is off as far as that is concerned and we have a different one now.”

Igesund said after seeing Mali in action there was a need to change his tactics for Saturday’s game. He believes Mali could be beaten, if the team takes its chances.

“I looked at their team and every player is tall and big but we will work around that. We have our own game plan and let’s see how they cope with our technique and skill.”

Igesund said he would be counting on the home support to get behind the team as they have always done.