SAFA anxiously waiting for Algeria or Tunisia to agree to Bafana friendly

SA Football Association (Safa) officials are anxiously waiting for a response from North Africa powerhouses Algeria or Tunisia to confirm whether they will agree to a friendly match against Bafana Bafana in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or in Egypt ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations next months.

Safa chief executive Russell Paul confirmed that they initially asked for a friendly with tournament hosts Egypt but those plans fell away when they could not find a suitable date.

The SA football governing then turned to the two North African sides for assistance.

Bafana have confirmed a friendly match against Ghana at their mini-camp in Dubai and head coach Stuart Baxter has requested another one to be played as part of his preparations before facing Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals opening match on June 24.

“The coach has finalised his plans for Afcon and we are waiting for confirmation for one more friendly possibly against Algeria or Tunisia to add to one against Ghana in the UAE‚” Paul said.

“The big challenge for us is that most of the opponents don’t necessarily want to play preparation matches in Egypt and we are toying with the idea of shifting the Ghana game to an earlier date‚ with their permission‚ so that we can play the extra game in the UAE.

“If we don’t succeed in moving the Ghana game‚ we will have to work with what is available to us and the coach is looking at one of the teams from North Africa.

"We originally approached Egypt for a match on the 19th (in June) but they were no too keen because it is close to their opening match of the tournament.

“We then approached Algeria and Tunisia and a response could come at any time from either of them.

"We are just waiting for them to come back to us and the match will possibly take place in the UAE.”