Pressure on Bafana to emulate Class of 96 ‘too much’ – Igesund

Gordon Igesund. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund believes his players cannot cope with the expectations of repeating the heroics of the successful 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winning team.

Igesund said the current crop of players was under pressure to emulate Neil Tovey and his troops and this has been too much for them.

“They are in their faces every day. They read about them, see and meet them and this has not been easy on them. Unfortunately there is always pressure which sometimes should not be there but we have to deal with that,” said Igesund.

He said the next 48 hours would be crucial as he tries to prepare his players psychologically before their second Africa Cup of Nations game against Angola on Wednesday at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

“We need to get the players’ minds right. A lot of players were not themselves and had a nervous performance and it seemed they lacked confidence. We must now make them believe in themselves again because they have taken a lot of stick recently.”

Igesund revealed that the players had a meeting among themselves after their below-par performance against Cape Verde as they conceded their performance was not good.

He, however, said the team needed to forget about Saturday night’s draw against Cape Verde and focus on the next match against Angola on Wednesday.

“We are on equal footing now with the other teams and we have to do the job against Angola. Every essgame is different and it should be an open one on Wednesday.”

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