‘Ethiopia, Not To Be Taken Lightly’

Bafana Bafana captain, Steven Pienaar has cautioned that Ethiopia are not amateurs and must, therefore, not be taken lightly.

‘Schillo’ will lead South Africa out on Sunday when they take on the Ethiopians in Bafana’s first match of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, and he says the team will leave nothing to chance.

“We know what lies ahead of us and this is important not just for the players, but for the whole country. It is really important that we qualify,” Pienaar says.

Bafana are placed 67th in world rankings while Ethiopia are 138th, but Pienaar insists that no team is a walkover these days.

“We will go into the game as favourites, but we just have to treat it as a normal game. We will be playing against 11 players, not amateurs. We have to give everything from the first to the last minute,” he says.

“We know Ethiopia is not gonna be an easy game; there are no easy games in football anymore so we know what is expected from us. We know it’s not gonna be easy at all.”