FORMER Bafana Bafana midfielder, Bennet Mnguni, believes that this team has a chance to make history by going through the group stage for the first time since South Africa started playing in the FIFA World Cup.
Bafana, who will be playing in the World Cup for the fourth time since 1998, have been drawn with Mexico, South Korea and the Czech Republic in Group A of this tournament which will be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
It will play Mexico in the opener on June 11, at the Estadio Azteca, Mexico City.
Since Bafana played for the first time in the World Cup in 1998, in France, they have never gone past the group stage. And in 2010, in the World Cup which was played in South Africa, it made a bad record of being the first country in the history of the World Cup to get out of the group stage.
“I think that this Bafana Bafana team coached by Hugo Broos has quality and experienced players to hold their own in this year’s World Cup.
In my opinion, the group we are in is not such a difficult group that we cannot pass the group stage.
I do not take the Czech Republic and South Korea lightly, but in my opinion they are not countries with a tangible history in the World Cup, so this is our chance to make history by going through the group stage for the first time. And Mexico is not a country that has ever given us a problem,” said Mnguni who was in the Bafana team that played in the World Cup held in Korea-Japan in 2002.
“The good thing about Hugo Broos’ team is that they have been playing together for a long time and were able to play in the Africa Cup of Nations for consecutive years which was very important.
Apart from that, we have Sundowns (Mamelodi) players who played in the Fifa Club World Cup, which is not at the same level as the World Cup.
This is a team that I have no doubt will do better than other national teams in the past, who were able to book a place in the World Cup with their skills for the first time since 2010.”
Bafana played together with the Czech Republic in history in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, they tied 2-2. They have never played against South Korea, but they have played against Mexico three times, winning twice and drawing once in the 2010 World Cup.