The former Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic player has reflected on Bafana’s narrow win over the Brave Warriors
South Africa‘s second assistant coach Mark Fish says no team is unbeatable ahead of their final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group D match against Morocco on Monday.
Bafana Bafana boosted their hopes of reaching the Round of 16 by defeating their southern Africa rivals Namibia 1-0 at the Al Salam Stadium in Egypt‘s capital city, Cairo on Saturday night.
Fish is wary of Morocco’s Atlas Lions, who have already secured their place in the knockout phase after winning their first two group stage matches against Namibia and Ivory Coast.
“Of course, the result is very important because it gives us a chance to try to finish second in the group. But obviously, this is a better chance than we had before the game. So, the result was the most important,” Fish told assembled media after the match.
“I have watched Morocco twice now. They are a very good team and [they are also a] very strong team. The players will have to lift up their game again. No team is unbeatable, but it will be a difficult task,” the retired defender continued.
“The good thing is that they have qualified already. So, they have probably won the group and they might rest a couple of players. But then again they are a strong team like I said. Let’s hope the players will go out to perform and make sure we get the result we need to go through to the next round,” he added.
Fish, who was part of the Bafana squad which faced Morocco, Namibia and Ivory Coast at the 1998 Afcon finals in Burkina Faso, feels that South Africa needs to improve in the final third after scoring their maiden goal at this year’s tournament through Bongani Zungu against the Brave Warriors.
“Towards the end of the game [against Namibia], we saw that we need to better in the final third. If we do that we will score more goals and create a couple of opportunities. But scoring more goals will make it a little bit easier. So, we are looking forward to the game,” Fish said.
“It seemed like all doom and gloom after losing to Ivory Coast. It was disappointing that we conceded within a space of 35 seconds after a corner-kick that we conceded. If you watched the whole game we were not as bad as the result,” the 1996 Afcon winning defender insisted.
“We did not get the three points, but again we got the result tonight [against Namibia]. We looked better and in the second half probably the last half an hour we showed what we can do especially in the final third and the players will grow from that and go with a lot of confidence in the last game because of the victory as we have given ourselves a chance,” he explained.
South Africa, who are placed third on the Group D standings – level on points with second-placed Ivory Coast, will be hoping to continue their dominance over Morocco.
Bafana have never lost to the Atlas Lions in their five meetings having recorded two wins and three draws.
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