Eritrea will host the clash at Cairo’s Al Salaam Stadium due to a lack of a suitable home venue, allowing Mosimane to call on his Egyptian connections for Bafana support.
Mosimane spent two years in charge of Al Ahly after being appointed in 2020, guiding the Cairo giants to two CAF Champions League titles and domestic league success. He believes that history can help Bafana receive support from the Egyptian crowd.
“The Egyptian nation has very good knowledge of Bafana Bafana. Bafana has a good history in Egypt. They know the players; they also saw them at the World Cup,” Mosimane told SAFA media.
“We are saying to the Egyptians, ‘we are brothers’. We might be fighting again in a few days to come, but now that we are here, we have a very good history.
“We have a very good foundation with the Egyptian federation, and we hope the Egyptian supporters come to our match and support us.”
Mosimane made a specific appeal to Al Ahly supporters, while also encouraging fans of Cairo rivals Zamalek to attend.
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“I am saying to the Red Devils, they must come to the match and support me against Eritrea. I am expecting them to come. Zamalekians are also good, come and support us. We need everyone’s support,” he added.
Wednesday’s qualifier will be Mosimane’s second match since succeeding the retired Hugo Broos as Bafana coach. South Africa opened their Group D campaign with a 2-1 victory over Guinea on Saturday.
Bafana will then remain in Cairo for a friendly against Egypt this weekend, with the Pharaohs having beaten South Africa in the group stage of the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Mosimane also praised South Africa’s youth development after Amajita retained the COSAFA Under-20 Championship under coach Raymond Mdaka.
“It is a very inspirational story from the Under-20 national team,” he said. “Ray Mdaka has done exceptionally well consistently. It shows the programmes in South Africa are good.
“We have the platform and the base, boys coming from under-14s, under-15s and under-17s, playing regularly, week in, week out. It has given us a conveyor belt and made sure our under-17s and under-20s remain strong.”