Raphael Abiola
January 9, 2024 at 12:30 PM
- Grant Kekana is looking forward to facing Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Peter Shalulile at AFCON
- The Bafana Bafana defender also shared his thoughts about coming up against the Namibian striker
- South Africa will face tough sides like Mali, Namibia, Tunisia in the group stage of the competition
South African international Grant Kekana has aired his opinion on facing his Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Peter Shalulile at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
The Bafana Bafana are drawn in Group E and will face Mali, Tunisia and Namibia in the group stage.
Shalulile is rated as one of the best strikers in the Premier Soccer League and could face some of his Sundowns teammates when Namibia faces South Africa on Sunday, January 21.
Source: Getty Images
In an interview, Kekana admitted it would be a challenging game against the Namibians in general, and they don’t need to focus solely on Shalulile, according to a report by FARPost.
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Football
“It’s going to be another tough one. I don’t think there will be easy games. Shalulile has obviously been a prolific striker for us,” he said.
“We go up against them at training, so it will be another tough encounter. But you don’t focus on one individual; you want to focus on the whole team. Do our homework and make sure that we try and nullify them as much as possible.”
South Africa’s opening game in the competition would be against the Eagles of Mali before taking Shalulile’s Namibia.
Hugo Broos’ side will end their group stage games against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
Toure adds South Africa to AFCON 2023 favourites
Sports Brief previously reported that former Barcelona and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has disclosed his favourite teams to win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
The former Olympiacos star won the competition in 2015 and surprisingly ignored his own country while listing the nations he believes can win the tournament in Ivory Coast.
The Saudi Arabian national team coach cited qualification form as the reason for his favourites’ selection, with Senegal and Guinea Bissau part of the best.
