The battle for precious places in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the African Cup of Nations in Egypt in the same year continues in earnest as Bafana Bafana take on a wounded Ghana in Kumasi on Sunday.
The South African national team will be hosted by the Black Stars in the second game of a series that serves as qualifiers for both 2006 tournaments.
Both teams had indifferent starts to their campaigns, with Bafana Bafana winning unconvincingly 2-1 against the minnows of Cape Verde, while the Black Stars lost 1-0 to Burkina Faso — Bafana’s next opponents.
The last time the two sides met was in the 2002 Nations Cup in Mali, where they drew 0-0. The Black Stars desperately need a win as they lie at the bottom of the Group 2 log.Â
Bafana Bafana will be sporting a new-look team starting from the back, with experienced goalkeeper Hans Vonk replaced by one from the inexperienced trio of Moeneeb Josephs, Rowan Fernandez and Calvin Marlin.Â
To protect the new shot-stopper South African coach Stuart Baxter has called up experienced defender Jacob Lekgetho, with the midfield being bolstered by another defensive player, MacBeth Sibaya, who has decided to come out of retirement.
South African supporters will be pleased with the return of Steven Pienaar and Sibusiso Zuma to boost the midfield and provide the sort of defence-splitting passes to the strikers that were sorely missing against Cape Verde.
Bafana Bafana will be hoping that their strikers, Siyabonga Nomvete, Shaun Bartlett and George Koumantarakis, put on their scoring boots against Ghana.
A point away from home will be a consolation prize, but a win is needed in order to keep the South African team in pole position in the group.
The Ghana match should provide Baxter with an important insight into playing in other African countries.
The West Africans have called up many of their foreign-based professionals for the upcoming clash.
However, the Black Stars, who dominated the continent in the 1980s, seem to no longer have their shine. A second defeat for Ghana could end their quest to reach Germany in 2006.
Some of the big names who will feature prominently for Ghana are Bayern Munich star defender Samuel Kuffor and Juventus’s tough midfielder Stephen Appiah. Â
After playing Ghana in Kumasi, Bafana Bafana will have to start preparing themselves for another World and Nations Cup qualifier in two weeks’ time, at home against second-placed Burkina Faso.
Bafana Bafana have beaten Burkina Faso before, 1-0 at the Rustenburg stadium in a World Cup qualifier in 2001, and drew in the second leg game 1-1.
The last encounter between the two teams was at the 2002 Nations cup in Mali, where they played to a goalless draw.