Bafana Bafana midfielder, Hlompho Kekana, has revealed that they will die for the team ahead of their Group A game against Mali this afternoon at the Cape Town Stadium.

Kekana scored a brilliant goal when they beat Mozambique 3-1 last Saturday in their opening game - a game he said was tactically tough for them as a team. He said they never underestimated their opponents but they knew they had to fight in order to win it.

“It was important for us to win as it was our opening game, we had to win and get confident going forward to our next game. I’m happy the pressure wasn’t that much and winning that game boosted our chances of going all the way to the final.

“Obviously when I shoot I hope to score, I used to take such shots at my club, sometimes it goes in and sometimes it goes over or wide. With that shot, I was hoping to score even though that was from far, and that’s not where I normally take them. I took my chance well and I beat the keeper,” said 'Gonzalez', as he is affectionately known in football circles.

Although he said their game against Mali will be a difficult affair for both sides, the Zebediela-born anchor man told the Siya crew that Mali beat Nigeria and they still have to work hard again.

“That shows us that our game will not be easy, we have to work hard against them and then we can look forward to our game against Nigeria which is also going to be a tough one as well. I’d like to urge our supporters to come and watch the games, support us because without their support, we can’t do it,” added Kekana.

To read more about what the Bafana player said, get your latest copy of Soccer Laduma, (Issue 854) and read the Revolving Column.

The game is set to go underway at 17:00 this afternoon.