Congo coach Isaac Ngata has been left impressed by the great condition of the pitch at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha which his side will play on against South Africa on Friday.
The Congolese are set to offer Bafana Bafana a major test in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Friday evening with Hugo Broos’ men looking to secure maximum points from the crucial encounter.
However, the visitors arrived late, owing to infighting between the government and the football federation that saw the association’s offices shut just a day before Ngata named his squad.
Congo arrived in South Africa on Thursday evening and had a feel of the playing surface and Ngata could not believe what he was experiencing.
What does Congo coach think of the playing surface?
“This is not an African pitch, it is a European pitch,” he said after a light training session on Thursday.
Congo do not have time to feel sorry for themselves over their chaotic preparations as they will need to rise to the occasion against Hugo Broos’ men.
Broos has also warned his team against thinking that they have an edge owing to the Congolese’ situation.
“There are a lot of things happening maybe chaotic also but again those are professional players and I said it before, AFCON is the most important thing for an African player, everybody wants to go to AFCON, maybe more important than World Cup,” Broos said on Thursday.
Hugo Broos has warned Bafana stars against complacency
“They will be ready tomorrow, most players maybe the preparation of the game was not ideal but on the other side, they are professionals and certainly at the start of the game, they will be motivated and try to have a good result here.
“So, we can expect a motivated Congo team. During the game, I know when such things happen and you have chaotic preparations, during the game when we are able to make one or two goals maybe, they break at that moment but before that, you can be sure they will fight until the last seconds of the game to get a good result.”
South Africa have four points from their 2-2 draw with Uganda and 3-2 win against South Sudan while Congo have three after beating the South Sudanese 1-0 before a 2-0 defeat to the Cranes.
