Bafana Bafana will go into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with the pressure of having to perform better than they did last time around and Mothobi Mvala is aware of this.
A key member of the team that finished third in Ivory Coast last year, Mvala watched on Monday evening as Bafana Bafana's Group B opponents were confirmed. Egypt, Angola and Zimbabwe are the hurdles that lie ahead for Hugo Broos' bronze medalists of 2023 and they have to ensure that they get over them to give themselves a shot of crossing the finish line first.
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"It's a nice draw, interesting one. We are going to play against Egypt, Angola and Zimbabwe. In the previous AFCON we did well, so obviously the expectations are very high and we all know what we need to do as players. We have a strong squad that can take the nation to the next level and make the nation proud, so we are hoping that this time we will go all the way," Mvala said to media after the Nedbank Cup draw on Wednesday evening in Randburg, Johannesburg.
"We are familiar with those countries (Angola and Zimbabwe). Those are going to be interesting games. What's nice is that we have a lot of teams in South Africa that are participating in CAF. With the experience that we have, it's going to help us a lot at AFCON."
Sundowns, meanwhile, are set to take on Mphene Home Defenders in the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup, after beating Sibanye Golden Stars 5-2 in the previous round.
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"I can't say it's better because they qualified to be in the round 16 and it means they are a good team. You know when you play lower division teams it can be difficult. What's better is that we are playing at our home ground and I believe our technical team will get the necessary information to know a bit about them," Mvala said.
