The coach of the 'Bafana Bafana' national team, Pitso Mosimane, acknowledged the high level of competition from Guinea but emphasized that his team possesses players capable of winning any match on the day.
Mosimane will begin his second tenure as the manager of 'Bafana Bafana' in the match against the national team of Chile as part of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers, which is scheduled for Saturday at 15:00 at the Orlando Amstel Arena stadium.
Although he aims to start the campaign strongly, he understands that the game against the West African team, which has a stronger paper squad consisting mainly of players playing abroad, will not be easy.
Mosimane has already identified the key players who pose the greatest structural threat in Soweto, both in attack and defense.
He noted: 'Guinea has the best striker, Serhou Guirassy, who plays for Borussia Dortmund. Of course, he hasn't scored this week, but he is a strong forward—a real number 9 and a big player. We must take care to deal with his aerial threat.'
Following the visit of the Saudi team Al-Ahli—which recently lost to Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 in the Africa Cup of Nations and Asia Pacific Cup—Mosimane used his connections within the technical staff to gather information about the Guinea squad playing in the Saudi Pro League.
Mosimane explained: 'They have players in Saudi Arabia. I was with the Saudis on Saturday. We talked to find out about Mori Konate, who is at Al-Hazem, and what he is doing. I was with Al-Ahli all week, asking questions and gathering the necessary information for us.'
Furthermore, he mentioned the presence of Guinea players in Poland, such as Lamin Diaby-Fadiaga and Lass Couroma, who play for Girona.
Despite Guinea having high-profile players abroad, Mosimane remains calm. He has placed his bet on the core of the Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates teams to demonstrate why they dominate both domestically and continentally.
Mosimane observed: 'You know these squads of West African teams—they are full of players playing overseas. AFCON showed that it's not about where you play, but what happens on the field. If our players from Sundowns and Pirates can show that they are champions in the Africa-Asia-Pacific region, that gives us every reason to be confident.'