Mali’s Head Coach, Patrice Carteron, has said that the hosts South Africa’s Bafana Bafana will be under pressure when both sides meet at the quarter-final stage of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Mali qualified for the stage as Group B runners up and will play the Bafana Bafana tomorrow in Durban.

Carteron told a newsmen that the Eagles of Mali would be at their best, stressing Bafana Bafana fans could be out to vent their frustrations, if the team’s game plans fail to materialise.

“We will be at our best but South Africa will be the team that everybody sees in the semi-finals, and so all the pressure will be on them.

“The stadium will be filled with people expecting Bafana Bafana to win and we could put more pressure on them if things do not go according to their plans,’’ he said.

The coach said that the Eagles would not be distracted by the massive support by the home fans in the 57, 000-capacity stadium in Durban.

According to Carteron, our focus will be to bring joy to the people of Mali who were presently facing a turbulent political era.

“We are not thinking about distractions from our fans, instead, we will be thinking about the 15-million Malians who will be watching the game.

“The whole team has spoken about what is going on in Mali and the players are determined to give them more joy and good news,” Carteron said.

The coach added that he was not concerned that his side was already playing their fourth important game in less than two weeks.

Mali has been ravaged by a civil strife at which a multilateral international force led by France has presently been rallied to flush out militants that had been out to illegally seize control of political power in the country