Jamaica coach Rudolph Speid has urged South Africa to be mentally and physically prepared for a tough match against Mexico in the opening match at Azteca Stadium.
Bafana Bafana, will face Mexico at 21:00 CAT on Thursday. The 2010 World Cup hosts is in Group A alongside South Korea and the Czech Republic.
In their final preparatory match, Hugo Broos’ men beat the Reggae Boys 1-0, but the Jamaican coach insisted that Bafana Bafana held back against his team and did not unleash the full power of their talents at Estadio Hidalgo.
“As it relates to South Africa, I think they were playing within themselves, though, because probably, you know, players don’t want to get injured and everybody wants to impress the coach,” he said.
“I didn’t think they were going for it as much as they could have. But playing against Mexico in the Azteca Stadium (in the opening match of the World Cup), there’s going to be 123,000 screaming Mexicans in there, I can tell you. They’ll probably overload it; they’re going to be pressing high up the pitch, especially in the first half. They’re going to be pressing very high in the first half, relentless pressing, but of course, the pressure will ease as the game goes along.”
Broos also described the performance as below what he was expecting from his side.
“The performance was not what I expected. I think we have to analyze the game very well” Broos said.
He added, “I think it was also a matter of mentality. We have to do more, much more, than what we did this afternoon to have good results in the World Cup in the next few weeks.”
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