SAFA confident of a full house in crunch Bafana vs Senegal qualifier

South African Football Association (Safa) officials are confident that they will have sold 30,000 tickets by Thursday ahead of Bafana Bafana’s 2018 FIFA Russia World Cup qualifier against Senegal at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Friday night (7pm).

TimesLIVE can confirm that 19,500 tickets had been sold by midday on Wednesday and Safa officials expect the sales to have increased substantially by Thursday.

“We are now closing in on 20,000 and we expect more by Thursday‚ considering we usually have a late rush for tickets‚" Safa spokesman Dominic Chimhavi told TimesLIVE.

"We are confident of reaching between 30 and 40,000.

"Our people are showing the support for the team for this important match.”

This is already a marketed improvement in comparison to Bafana’s previous World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso‚ which coach Stuart Baxter's charges won 3-1 at FNB Stadium last month.

Some 16,000 tickets were sold for that match in Johannesburg.

But they were going for R100 and there was an outcry from the public‚ with some displeased fans claiming the price was too expensive.

This time‚ however‚ tickets cost just R30 in a match that Bafana can do with the 12th man in the stands against the Lions of Teranga.

The Peter Mokaba Stadium takes 45,000 people.