Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has declared that South Africa are the overwhelming favourites heading into Wednesday’s quarterfinal fixture of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, withinnigeria reports.
The Bafana Bafana put up a spirited display to knock out hosts, the Pharaohs of Egypt, 1-0 in the Round of 16 encounter last Saturday.
Rohr believes that edging out the host nation has put the Bafana Bafana in strong position in the competition.
“South Africa are the favourites for this game. They beat Egypt in front of a big crowd which is not an easy thing to do,” Rohr stated during a press conference at the Cairo International Stadium on Tuesday.
“We saw the game between Egypt and South Africa. We know South Africa very well because we were in the same group in the qualifiers . You are full confidence when you beat the number one favourites with one of the best players in Africa (Mohamed Salah).
“We lost against Madagascar and suffered in our win against Cameroon. We had to fight hard coming from a goal down to win the game.”
Rohr added: “We are coming to a new stadium. We stayed in Alexandria where we played all our matches before now. Nice place, close to the beach. The players love the place.
“We have to travel down to Cairo. A new place for us. South Africa have been here (Cairo) before us. They also know this place and stadium better than us.”
The German however says he is expecting an exciting match from two good teams.
“It is going to be a good match between two exciting teams. We are hungry and ready for the game,” Rohr added.
“After the loss to Madagascar, I told my players that the loss was good for us ahead of playing Cameroon and it is the same for tomorrow’s game. My team will never be arrogant. We will keep our fighting spirit and humility.”
