A senior official for one of the countries set to face South Africa in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers has warned that his nation "cannot afford" not to qualify for the tournament.
The World Cup qualifiers are next on the international football agenda for CAF teams, who will resume action in the first two weeks of June.
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Bafana have been drawn in Group C for the qualifiers, alongside five other nations, namely: Rwanda, Lesotho, Benin, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.
All the teams have played two matches so far, with the winner of the group guaranteed an automatic spot at the next World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Bafana are currently second on the table behind Rwanda after winning one game and losing the other.
Nigeria, the highest-ranked team – according to FIFA's latest rankings – in the group, are third after picking up two draws from their opening two matches of the qualification campaign.
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Their next fixture will see a repeat of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between South Africa and Super Eagles, with the two sides set to lock horns on 3 June.
The venue is yet to be confirmed but Nigeria will be at home.
Now, given that the west Africans finished second at AFCON and failed to qualify for the previous World Cup in Qatar, the country's minister of sports. John Enoh, has insisted that they cannot afford to miss out on the next edition of the global showpiece.
"I think we have not had a tremendous start, it's a shaky one and therefore there is a mileage to cover given that we didn't go for the last World Cup," he said, according to Nigeria Soccernet.
"We cannot afford not to go for the next and therefore everything needs to be done.
"Coming after AFCON and coming after we have had a tremendous show somewhat, I think everybody expects that we should be able to consolidate on that and take it from there."
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