One of Bafana Bafana's opponents insists that Hugo Broos' side are the favorites in their group to directly qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On Friday, 21 March, South Africa will host Lesotho at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane in the first of their two World Cup qualifiers this month.
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Four days later, Bafana will travel to West Africa to take on Benin on matchday six of the qualifying campaign.
As things stand, Rwanda, South Africa, and Benin occupy the first three positions in the group standings, as they all sit jointly on seven points after four matches so far.
The Benin boss, Gernot Rohr, insists that Nigeria and Bafana are the two favorites to qualify, with the latter in particular even having a greater chance.
"South Africa and Nigeria are the favourites in this Group C, and I quite agree," said the German coach upon touching down in South Africa for their clash against Zimbabwe at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, according to NationSports.
"They can win the group when you look at the quality of their players, even though some of them are not even playing regularly (with their clubs) because they are not fit enough.
"You can say they are favourites, especially South Africa, but we shall see. But for us, we are preparing well.
"We are already here in Durban with some players already, and more coming in tomorrow (today); so we have started preparations already.
"It was a long trip to Durban, and we had about a six-hour stopover in Johannesburg before we connected to Durban, but we are expecting about four more players tonight (Sunday)."
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By Lukhanyo Mtuta
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