Ronwen Williams says Bafana are well aware of the importance of claiming maximum points from their World Cup qualifiers with Lesotho and Nigeria.
South Africa face the Crocodiles at the Free State Stadium on Friday and the Super Eagles at the same venue on Tuesday.
Hugo Broos’ team currently sit on top of Group C with 13 points, closely followed by Rwanda (8), Benin (8) and Nigeria (7), while Lesotho are in fifth with six points, and Zimbabwe prop up the group with four points, from six games played.
Maximum points from both games will put Bafana into a strong position ahead of their final two qualifying matches against Zimbabwe and Rwanda in October.
Williams said in the Citizen: “We know that a positive result for us in both games is one foot on the plane to the US. We are looking forward to doing the job tomorrow.
“It is a new squad with a lot of new faces. But the preparation has been good. The new guys have settled in, we have put in a lot of work. We know how important this game (Lesotho) is and what it will do for our qualification for the World Cup.”
South Africa has good memories of the Free State Stadium, having beaten Zimbabwe at the venue in a previous World Cup qualifier in June 2024.
“It is always nice coming here, we know the crowd can give us extra motivation.
“We have good memories of beating Zimbabwe here and hopefully the crowd can come again and give us energy for these two important games in the group,” he added.