Cape Town – After selecting a 23-man squad, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter is confident that his charges are more than capable of getting a victory against Nigeria in the upcoming 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier.
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After four rounds of (of six) matches played, the Super Eagles lead Group E with 9 points, one ahead of South Africa, who have accumulated 8 points from two wins and two draws.
Libya are in third place with 4 points, followed by the Seychelles on 1 point.
Bafana Bafana welcome the West African giants to FNB Stadium on Saturday, November 17 while the Seychelles host Libya at the Stade Linite on the same day.
The top two sides in the group will progress to next year's AFCON tournament to be held in Cameroon from June 7-30.
Baxter believes that the Bafana Bafana players will be highly motivated to play Nigeria and are aware of the magnitude of the match.
"Being confident means, the players that I have worked with I know they desire greatly to qualify," said Baxter.
"They know that Nigeria are a top class team and will be on the other side of the field. They know we've got to get rid of that (win Nigeria) to get where we want to go.
"So, I believe that the players won't have a problem, with not wanting it enough and not being able to balance that mental attitude towards the game."
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Baxter added: "Secondly, it doesn't matter if we've got a lot of injuries. I would love to have some of those (injured) players in the game, but we've got to get on with it.
"I think the (current squad) players would do just that. I think they'll quickly understand their roles and I think they will quickly make sure that they give a performance."
Meanwhile, Nigeria have once again left out captain Mikel John Obi for the match after naming their squad last week.
Kick-off is at 15:00.
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