Igesund upbeat about Bafana

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has targeted steady improvement for his side, despite his team dropping eight spots to 67th in the Fifa world rankings released earlier today.

“It's always important to improve,” said Igesund.

“In the next 18 months I'd like us to be in the top 20 in the world and top three or four in Africa.”

The friendly international matches Nigeria and Burkina Faso, on August 14 and 17 respectively, Bafana would have the chance to move up the rankings and continue their steady improvement of results since Igesund took charge.

“We're taking huge strides at the moment and all these games are important.

“If we can win against Nigeria, our ranking will improve. Then, if we can beat Burkina Faso -- who were the runners up in Afcon -- it will help our cause even more.”

Igesund said it was vital Bafana bettered their position in the world because of the implications it would have on big-tournament seedings.

“Every game we play is important and has repercussions. We need to be seeded, we need to be ranked, we need to get back the pride for South African football from the rest of the world.

“To get the rest of the world to take notice of us, we need to start winning games, and if we do that, it will take us into the top 20 in the world and top three in Africa.

"I think we're going to get there as things are looking very positive.”

(File photo: Gallo Images)

-Sapa