South Africa manager Shakes Mashaba considers Sunday's friendly with Zambia to be a 'very crucial game' ahead of their preparations for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. “We are playing against a side that is quick going forward. They are very aggressive and need not be taken lightly. They are also building a new side and have qualified for Afcon 2015 so we are on par, the difference will be seen after the match,” said Mashaba. “We are looking at three things in this match. We are bidding our fans farewell and it is going to be very important to leave on a very good note. It is also a game where we need to maintain our winning momentum, should we not do well in this game it will disturb our rhythm, and lastly it will give us the players' state of readiness and a chance to see where our players are in terms of fitness heading into the tournament.” The two sides, who have both qualified for the Equatorial Guinea tournament (17 January to 8 February 2015), will meet at Orlando Stadium in Soweto at 15:00 CLT (GMT +2). "Today people sit and say if we don't have Jali or if we don't have Furman we are in trouble, but they forget there is a player waiting for that chance to play, we need to spur them on and encourage them because we are not going to come back to you and say Dean is not here or so and so is not here. Let's push them in and let them play so they show us what they can do. “Zambia is going to be a challenge because all the players will be playing out of their skin to impress the coach before he announces the squad that will travel to Equatorial Guinea, but we ready for them. On the other hand this match could pose a problem for our boys where complacency creeps in because they are already in the final squad going to Afcon 2015, so we need to guard against that," he concluded. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSports on Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/119436.aspx
